Beginnings and Ends
by MissObscene
Summary: It follows along with the show, and two OC (?) characters. enjoy. I did my best to weed out any errors. I will try to upload as many times as i can but my uploadings will be rather random. I am without net. Rated M for later adult content, a drug reference in there. and drinking. swearing. yep. romance/horror/angst. Reviews are highly appreciated xo
1. Chapter 1

Ya know, im not one to have friends that will actually make an effort to visit me. I have never gone out on my own, ive pretty much stayed indoors due to neighborhood drama, so i was never allowed out, could never visit anyone. For one, all my friends are online, i have no friends in my town, Can't get to the friends i want cause they are all states away and one of them is even across the ocean. The friends that would visit me are bumfuck broke, just like me, But this one was different, Shes one of my best friends, Her name is Krista. both the same age her and I, She's one of those people i really really would hate to lose, She saved up money and worked her ass off and managed to come out and visit me, She lives in the middle of no-where, as do I, She's just one of the best people ive ever met and the fact i was getting to meet her in person now made me feel a bit, Strange.

She admitted to having feelings for me, Well, more like I knew and i called her out on it in a joking manner, hopeing she wouldnt slap me for making such an assumption, but in my mind i knew what I was doing, I WANTED to be right. and when she didnt dismiss what I said, she pretty much nodded a yes to it. My jaw dropped and i could feel my face burning up. Was pretty awesome considering the fact i was having a shitty night. which that fixed. I have a thing for her, i just sometimes wonder if she ever notices it. How oblivious she was to it. Which even if she was. It was cute. it was just one of the many things about her i loved.

Shes such an awesome girl. i wonder sometimes if im the only one who notices. Her ever changing hair colors, those pretty eyes of hers. and the button nose. and that cheeky smile, And the fact i could tell her so many perverted jokes and she'd laugh and either create more and add on to them, or blush depending on the joke, her eyes always looked so sparkley to me when she did that too, Blushed, giggled..And then her cherry flavored blow pops...Jeesus help me. Damn girl..

The day of her arrival she sent me a text when she was getting snacks from the store she stopped at in my town, Pretty much letting me know she made it, That was it, Panic consumed me, Was my hair ok? did this outfit look right? how was my make up? then i looked in the mirror and thought, Who the hell am i kidding, she isnt going to care about all that shit, I grabbed my shoes and ran out the door told my mom bye and told her to text me if she needs anything.

i sat down on the front porch waiting for her car to pull up in front of my house, paceing back and forth, with the knowledge of, i might be diging a trail as i was pacing back and forth, but i really didnt care, i was excited and happy that she was going to be staying the week with me. and I'd have her all to myself.

She drove up to my house and I just died. i felt my whole body just freeze. right there. thought to myself; "_oh dear jeesus she's here_"

We were out the whole day, it was the best day ever to me, radio blasting, singing songs on the radio. And it went from a beautiful day for an album of memories to a nightmare you wanted to supress and get therapy for if it came back. But this wasnt anything Therapy was going to really fix and i knew it from the start, Nor would there be any time for therapy. WE got home that night, back to my place, we heard screaming from down the road, Krista is well informed of my neighborhood, so at the time we just thought it was retarded people as always. We stepped foot into the house the lights were all off cept the living room light, I called out to my mom and no one answered. the kids were silent i thought they were asleep. i went upstairs to check, Krista following me shortly after, i went into the kids rooms they were gone, so was my mom.

"Evy!" Krista called out to me i was curious what was going on, and she just stood there and pointed into my mothers room behind the door. We both noticed the Clothes scattered everywhere behind the door, the clothes from the closet were gone, I ran to the trunks of clothing all of it was gone, even the kids clothes, the suit cases were missing too, Krista began to wonder around my house finding nothing but a mess everywhere, She wandered towards the bathroom noticing the red trails growing bigger as she reached the door,

i was searching around and heard only a muffled scream.

"Krista!" i ran to her i didnt know what else to do but that. i was just scared then.

"What happend!?"

"there" She pointed to the bathroom, she sounded like a scared mouse. I creeped towards the bathroom and just saw a man laying there, dead, his entire face was ripped off, entrails were scattered all over the floor. It was the most horrifying scene ive ever seen, and yet i just stood there still, showed no emotion, to be honest. i wasnt sure what emotion to give i was still unsure why the hell my family went missing, i took one of the towels off the rack and covered the man up with it. We heard banging from outside, Krista and i ran down stairs. we saw more men and women like them.. banging outside. on the screen door i closed the first door and barracaded it, So sure yet unsure what was happening.

"Krista?.."

"yeah Evy?"

"i think, we're a little bit fucked."

"Probably..What do we do?"

"im not even sure at this point. we gotta go"

We didnt even have to talk about it. We knew what was happening. we played enough games, watched enough movies to know what exactly was going on.

We ran around the house gathering whatever supplies we could find. and clothes i had that would fit both of us. she was taller than me so there wasnt much that i had. I ran up into the attic and i went to look for my mom's dagger, She had a habit of collecting weapons, it wasnt in its usual place. which means she must have taken it. which means my parents were gone and possibly safe and still alive, i knew my parents better than anyone else. They kept us safe and sound, kept us alive through everything. i had enough faith in my parents not to fuck this up, unlike other people, They probably wouldn't and they'd question my faith in my parents.. i ran back down the stairs, and we went out the door. we could see them running around. people scattering in the night, and the dead ones feasting upon the living, We'd always joke about this kinda shit too, we just didnt think it actually would happen, we got in the car and just drove. its all we could do really.

in the car driving over the bridge i thought out loud and said to Krista, "We should stop at walmart".

"For?"

"To see what people haven't raided yet."

"makes sense i suppose" Krista nodded and kept driving,

"we'll probably have to keep switching places too."

Again she nodded

We got to the walmart, Ive never seen the parking lot so empty. We cautiously walked into the walmart there were a few of them from what we could see infront of us. We grabbed shopping carts to use as battering rams, we ran towards the back where the guns would be. thankfully, There were some left, and some of the hunting knives. we took all we could grabbed a cart and shoved everything in it

As we were loading up the cart i heard a giggle come form krista, i looked at her with the look of "...what the fuck?"

And all she said was "Just thought of this joke. was funny."

"...Please, do tell."

"Why didn't the zombie cross the road?"

"ohgod.. Why?"

"because he had no guts"

I sighed and chuckled under my breath wiping the only tear i could shed, i knew if i kept crying i could lose focus. so i just stopped myself then and there.

We finished loading up the cart with supplies, medical, things we could use as weapons. Shovels, metal rakes. anything, metal bats were our preference, guns would just be a secondary use,, Only when needed,For emergencies ya know? took some food, energy drinks, extra clothes, flashlights, you name it, anything we could take. took extra of everything too in case of people we may pass by in DESPERATE need, Only trust those who would trust us, Even though that didn't seem like a good idea, we still went with it and used our instinct to our fullest extent. We got in our car and took off..


	2. Chapter 2

After driving for some time i pulled out a map and just blatantly asked, "so. Where to missy?, got the whole world at our feet, dead people, what do we do?"

"heh. i've got no fuckin clue"

"Sounds legit"

We just sighed. keep our eyes and ears open for anything, anyone. there was no music. just use and dead silence and the rattling of our equipment.

"What's that noise. I dont remember grabbing anything glassy, Evy?"

I studdered a bit. "I may have uhm. Took some alcohol and glasses for it..."

"ah. i see. And we are going to drink when...?"

" I dunno." i smirked and leaned back putting my feet up on the dashboard of the car.

"Fort benning". I shot up and looked at Krista because of her random input

"What?" i cocked my brow at her.

"Fort benning. Georgia." she just plainly said it

"Is that even a good idea?.. and what made you think of that?" I looked at her curiously

"I have, an uncle there-. I cut her off there, "What? you didnt tell me-. Cutting me off aswell

"Long story.."

"Share sometime?" i asked

"Maybe later when there's time.."

"time..we have quite a bit of it, as you can tell we are having a global issue. or at least i hope it isnt Global."

"We can only hope it isnt global Evy, Or we might aswell be just dead now."

I layed back in my chair thinking. Scoffed at the air just, pissed.

"Krista, Wake me when you want to change places.".

"Sure thing Dollface" she replied

i turned my head over facing out the window. Seeing the stars and the full moon that had risen. It looked so beautful right now. Sad I probably won't witness skies like this anymore. I'll be too busy decapitating the dead.

I woke up later it was now day. The car was still moving, I turned over lto look at Krista she looked so buzzed up right now. I peeked around noticing three empty monster cans.

"Still up i see."

"yeah. I didnt exactly want to wake you and I wasnt tired anyways, while you slept. I grabbed gas. And I also filled up a few tanks I found"

"Oh? thats good then."

"Yep. Also stole a GPS. The gas station sold some. which is handy I suppose. so I stole like two."

"Well thats good I suppose, Where the hell are we?"

"Motherfuckin' Evansville Indiana."

IStared out the window still on a dead ass lane. looked like some back road shit. Which i clearly stated to her aswell.

Takin some back roads?"

"yep"

"figured as much." i turned over muttering hopeing she didnt hear me i said to myself.."I always knew you liked the back road.."

The car stopped and jerked and her jaw dropped she slapped my arm hard but in a playful manner and i just laid there laughing at her. It was just so amusing.

"Want me to drive now?" i couldn't help but offer so maybe she could get some rest now, fuck knows she needed it.

"Sure"

We traded places and i kept following the back roads trying to do my best not to end up on a busy street. we really didnt need any of them our trail right now.

After traveling for a few days we got to georgia finally. driving through it was a huge mess.. we had to stop a few times to push cars out of the way with our own car. which was probably one of the most dangerous things we could have done besides walking on foot in a hoard of them, All that noise could have attracted them Considering what we saw when we got to atlanta.

There were hundreds of them. just walking aimlessly.

Driving around long enough around the area. we found Small grenades the military seemed to have left behind, I figured we could use them for some sort of emergency.

We unfourtunately couldnt use them here because of the fact there may be people here besides us. There could have been people alive hiding from them. we didnt want to make the situation worse. So we just kept driving at a slow pace attempting to creep. which was damn near impossible with a red car.

"Evy, What do we do?"

"Krista. how do you feel about driving again?, I have an idea" i reached back and grabbed the metal bat.

"What do you intend on doing?"

"things. Do you trust me?

"yes, Maybe?, No not really, Evy, not at the moment."

"Too bad woman, take the wheel and drive near those Dead bastards."

She just followed as I told her without question. I took a deep breath as i Rolled down the window sticking my self half-way out of it Everytime we got near them. I swung that bat like it was no one's business

Wiping out as much of them as i could. We stopped at a department store building. and ran into the Alley, noticing the Ladder going up. we hauled ass with all of our stuff that we could take. the important shit anyways.. we wandered around in the abandoned building cautiously, Ready to strike at will. We heard a gun cock behind us and we just froze. Showing no fear i turned around to only face a woman, blond hair. She didnt look at all amused. Then a man stepped out from around the corner

"Lower yer gun Andrea, I highly doubt these two little broads will do any harm to ya"

The woman stormed off in disgust.

I could feel the heat rise in the room as soon as he said that because Krista does not take bullshit like that from people at all, And I could tell her anger mostly came from the term he gave us "Little broads" and how much he emphisized on the word Little. I could see her glare burning into the man

"M'name's Merle, Baby dolls"

I thought to myself, "I wouldnt fuck this man if he was the last one on earth."

Krista just walked away in disgust.

i watched her walk away thinking "Thats my girl"

i always found it awesome and amusing when she got pissed. it made me feel safe and secure that she could hold her own and walk away from something she didnt like.

"That would be Krista, And im Evy, Pleased to meet you i guess, Are you and that woman the only ones here?"

"No. there are others lemme take ya to 'em" Krista over hearing our little conversation she followed after me. he seemed like a nice guy for now. So i just went with it. And if I needed to I would draw my gun out at him.

Out of fear and relief i took Krista's hand into my own, hoping things would be okay from here, soon mentally slapping myself out of it that; It probably wasn't going to be ok...


	3. Chapter 3

The tall man with the southern accent, Merle, Led us to a gang of survivors. They were out on the roof,

The woman who aimed the gun at us earlier, Andrea walked up towards us, "Sorry i aimed at you two kids- Krista Coughed interupting the woman "Adults."

Andrea looked at her and smirked and said. "Women."

"Im Evy, And this is Krista, We're 19 by the way," I said turning looking at krista as i annouced our age, trying to reassure Krista and the woman andrea that we weren't kids, and we were packin' heat.

I could tell merle was looking me and Krista up and down at that point, I gave him the good ole death glare, he scoffed and walked off, Andrea pointed to the rest of their group.

"This is t-dog, Jacqui, and morales, You obviously met Merle, there is one other but, he's not back from his run yet, His name is Glenn"

Andrea, Krista and I walked over to the edge to talk away from the others. noticing the sea of dead below us.

"So how did you guys get all the way over here?, you dont look like you're from around here at all."

I looked down at my feet, hesitant to answer, Krista leaning her head on mine." Well. Krista came to visit me, All the way from nebraska, and im from Illinois. We were out one night, Came back home, my family was gone, no trace of where they could have gone to, We raided a local walmart, and just kept driving, We're Headed to fort benning"

"Fort Benning? thats in Columbus. a bit of a trip from here, what's makin' you girls head there?"

"I have an uncle there." Krista explained.

"Ah." Andrea nodding in understandment.

"Is there any more of you?, Survivors. or is it just you guys?"

"Yeah there is more of us, You're welcome to join us if you like- The conversation was cut short when we heard gun fire, we looked over the edge of the building and saw two men running.

"Thats glenn!, we gotta get down there!"

some of us ran down to meet up with Glenn and the man he was with.

Andrea pissed about the gun fires. Yelling at the man with Glenn. "Do you see what you've done?!" Pointing at the hoards of the dead trying to break through the first floor of the building. We heard more gunfire, racing back upto the roof, it was Merle being pretty stupid at that point,

They were yelling at him to stop firing his gun, drawing more attention in.

As they were getting into their hustle, I dragged krista off to the side.

"What do we do? Should we go with them?."Krista asked me.

"Couldnt hurt to take a chance and do it. Just...Lets not let our guards down." i answered

She nodded in agreement,

After they were done with their argument and fighting. The Man handcuffed merle to a pipe after nearly beating t-dog to a pulp.

The new guy introduced himself to us, He was a cop, his name was Rick Grimes. he said he was searching for his family.

"Um, Guys!, we got a problem!" Glenn calling out to us pointing down at the dead. they were breaking in.

we all ran down the stairs of the building down another escape. killing whatever that was in our path,We noticed merle wasnt with us anymore, T-dog explained he locked the door behind him with one of HIS locks. he seemed pretty content about his locks like nothing would get through it. he also mentioned dropping the key to his freedom down a hole. Something told me the outcome of that was going to be bad.

They had some cars with them. we just ran into each one and i noticed glenn took our red one. he didnt know it was ours. we were already driving. so we couldnt stop the alarm the car was making. and at the moment. we really didnt care. we just wanted to drive the fuck away at that point. As we were in the truck, Andrea simply stated "Daryl is not going to be happy about this."

"who's Daryl?" me and krista asked in unison

"Merle's brother." Andrea answered.

"Well it was either him or all of us. The man is a danger to us" Rick stated "I'll take the fall for this one. It was my doing" he added on.

Krista, Rick and i all got ourselves aquainted. feeling the same pain as us. As all of us.

Krista and i just leaned up against the walls of the truck and rested till we got to where ever it was we were going.


	4. Chapter 4

11/12/12 Note: I am going to sit here and upload all the chapters i have till i have no more, then i will write more. i have so many ideas and its nice to actually get them out. I've sat here and held back at some of my writing because i have some shame. but i flipped a desk (Not literally) and said fuck it and just went with what was in my head.

We arrived at their camp site, Waking up to the sun blinding us as the door to the truck opened.

Seeing everyone return to what they had left of their family and friends was the cutest thing ive seen in a while, Especially when Rick found his family. it was like a scene in a movie. It was beautiful.

Krista being shy and quiet, leaning her head on me as we walked, still being tired.

Andrea intoduced us to the rest of the group.

"You guys, we have some new people that are going to stay with us." she pointed out at us in a greetful way

We waved and gave our quiet hellos

"And This is my sister amy"

"Who's that over there? with the woman and child."

Andrea looked down in concern and annoyance. "Thats Ed, his wife Carol and daughter sophia"

"Im guessing he's not a nice guy is he? Krista added on.

"Nope. he's not." Andrea answered quietly

"Hey, its our car, our things are probably still in there." Referring to the red car Glenn took.

Me and krista walked to the car and saw everything was still in it. safe and sound, Even the booze, Which plastered a decent grin on my face.

Over hearing coversations about Merle and Daryl that Rick was having with the others. T-dog vowing to go with, stating how he was the one who dropped the key to his freedom. Rick wanting him not to mention that bit at all

"Where is Daryl?" asked Rick

an older man came close into the conversation. "He went huntin'. "

Rick shook his hand, "You must be Dale."

"Mhm, i keep a watch out for things."

"Thats good and nice of you to do"

Dale just nodded in a thank you manner and led him to the direction he went hunting in

Hearing a scream from the kids

a few of us ran in the direction they were running from. Reaching the area spotting a walker feast on a deer that had arrows in it, me and krista looked at each other figuring the same thing. "This must be Daryl."

Daryl walkin out of the woods pissed at the walker that ruined his deer

"Think we can cut around the- Dale cuting Daryl off knowing what he was insinuating, Curious if he could cut around the feasted part the walker got to and used the rest for us, Dale put it plain and simple " I wouldn't chance it."

"damn, Thats a shame, Got some squirrels at least" Holding up a few of them tied on a rope, Proud of his catch.

Krista giggled, and i turned at her whispering. "what are you giggling at...?"

"nothin i just- Her words were cut off By daryl, "Who are these two lil' girls?" Asking Rick.

Krista scoffed and walked off and I just held my breath trying to fight back laughter and amusement from her reaction.

"...That would be krista, She doesnt exactly take bullshit. next time you say somethin, make sure you keep it to yourself or she migh-he cut me off. now. let me be serious for a moment here. i really. really dislike being cut off.."She gonna what?, Bitch slap me to death?"

"HA. no. she might just take those arrows and stick em-"Now now, calm down" Dale had cut me off, but i decided to listen and show a little respect walking off flipping my middle finger at Daryl in a playful manner, I Sat down with the kids making sure they were ok, i caught him at the corner of my eye staring me and krista down. Watching us like a hawk, he seemed surprised that i stood upto him in a way and was amused by krista.

I poked at Krista "hey. whats up? you have a look..Everything alright?"

"Im alright" She turned away from me and I became curious and it made me want to pry at her more because she never turns away from me..

"Woman. Tell me."

She looked at me with a face that looked like she was forcing herself not to blush and grin. and her eyes were wide open but still something else besides that. i could see it in her

"well for one, I didn't know Merle that well, cept the fact he is kind of an ass, but I feel bad that we had to leave him up there, And Daryl doesnt know yet, So I can't imagine how he's going to react and..."

"And?..Krista...Tell me" I squinted my eyes at her and her facial expression just froze as Daryl walked by and from there I knew.."...YOU. HAVE THE HOTS FO-She cut me off and covered my mouth "oh my god, oh my god, oh my fucking god Evy, shut up I swear to god I will kill you if you say anything."

i sat there and giggled under my breath " you haven't actually..gotten to know him yet. so i can tell you are basing this off of; One. His looks. Two. his attitude. Woman. Get your horemones in check!"

She turned around to peek at him and he caught her glance. She turned to me her face was cherry red it was amusing. and i then noticed him squinting at us and then realizing he could probably hear our conversation.

Icouldnt help but giggle at her embarassment. He went walking past us again. "You two hens keep on cacklin', instead of paying attention, ya'll gonna be walker dinner."

Krista said quietly "Pff, like you care."

"Thats right!, I DONT!"

I jumped in the middle of their bickering. "I call bullshit and I have alcohol, which im going to go find to consume. Krista, Calm your tits and lets go" I dragged her along giggling

Her face was so red it was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. I felt like tearing up and sarcastically saying 'They grow up so fast." just to piss her off.

as we were walking to the tent we set up, i was rummaging through the alcohol i had stolen and out of the corner of my eye, again i noticed Daryl eyeing us. I grinned looking at Krista whispering to her, "He's staring again"

"Shut up Evy, just. please, for the sake of my well being and sanity, shut it"

Made me curious why he was staring so much.I turned twoards Krista and I bit my lip giggling, noticing her face so un-amused and amused at the same time.

"hey wait a minute, isnt a bit early to drink.. shouldnt we wait till the night?."

"i guess, if you want i was just going to take a shot anyways. You seem like you have something on your mind, girly"

"Yeah, i just think we should wait till, Later maybe. After Rick tells Daryl the news about Merle, He might need a drink after that..."

I nodded in agreement, "Good point."


	5. Chapter 5

Me and krista sat down with the kids for a lil while. just playing some cards and teaching them little magic tricks we knew, Just being goofy and keeping them busy whilst others got their chores done..

"Hey!" I turned around at Morales calling to me.

"Hey!, whats up?"

"theres someone else I'd like you to meet, This is Christopher. We found him back in atlanta on our first run over there, He was sleeping earlier, so thats why you didnt see his face then."

"Hi there Christopher!" i shook his hand, he seemed quiet and shy. "My name is Evy, And this is my friend Krista."

"Want to join out game Chris?" Krista added on. "Sure!" Happily sitting down accepting our invitation.

"Hey!. Evy. Can you come here for a moment?" The other cop was calling me over, Shane, He seemed to sound annoyed. I guess I did something wrong., As I was walking I could see Daryl watching me again, He seemed curious, and he didnt seem to like shane that much either by the looks on his face.

"Yes?" i answered curiously.

"What's this?" Pointing at my liquor. I was curious is to why he was snooping around our tent as well.

"Whats it look like- Cutting me off " Dont get cocky with me lil' missy-" Excuse me? Its one thing to cut me off, I can somewhat deal with that, But do not, Call me "lil missy", And for your information "Officer". -I got up in his face now- " It is what it is. Its booze, MY booze, Got a problem with it, Take it up with a judge if you can find one still alive" I turned around to storm off when he grabbed my wrist, I could see Krista watching this, she wanted to get involved but she knew if she did things would get way worse. "Shane. Let me go. Now."

"No, Explain to me why you are underage drinking?"

"Then you fuckin' Explain to me, Since when did rules still apply in this world right now?, Hm?" Tell me that."

"Now, Lets not get this out of hand here-" Shane. Take your damn hands off me. Now. Or i'll scream."

"There won't be any need for that."

I tried to get away. he just was a stubborn asshole and didnt want to cooperate, I saw Daryl coming towards us as he saw us fighting. "Hey!. Get yer damn hands off 'er!"

He shoved Shane off, and ripped me from his grip. Rick and Lori came rushing over as soon as they saw Daryl and Shane getting into it.

"Shane, Daryl, What is going on here?!"

Shane got hissy " Thos two lil girls you brought back are trouble. Sneakin in alcohol"

Rick became confused "Why does that even matter?! And Daryl what were you doing?"

I just stood there watching everything happen. I looked back at krista she was rounding up the kids to get with their parents and for Carl to stay with Dale in the RV, She then came following over.

Daryl was just pissed. "He had his hands on 'er, so i broke 'em up"

Lori was looking at all of us and turned to me " Are you alright?, did he hurt you?"

"No, im fin- There yelling and arguing began to get louder again i jumped in the middle

"You guys!. knock it off!. im fine!. Damnit!" i got pissed and stormed off, as I was walking away I could hear krista telling shane off

"You're a real fuckin' piece of work, you know that?"

i turned around looked at her and i could see her walking past lori and saying something along the lines of "Control your damn men." My jaw dropped and I was trying to contain myself from being over amused. I didnt want anyone to see me being amused. it would have been rather inappropriate at that time. I gathered up my stuff from the picknik tables and went back to my tent after they cleared away from it, I climbed inside and sat down, the tent was pretty tall so i could stand up if i wanted. but i was just tired, So i laid down and just thought over things. One of those things being Daryl Saving me i guess i could call it. Wasn't sure what was going to happen to me. or was what even happening. I never really liked Shane from the start either, he just has this look to him i really just dont feel safe around, Lori didn't seem too pleased with him either.

Krista came in and joined and also to poke at me."Hey there, you ok?"

"yeah. im fine"

"heh.."

"what are you giggling about...?"

"Daryl. He pretty much came to your rescue...I knew something wasn't right about shane."

"yeah.. same here, And yes. he did "Come to my rescue."

Conversation was cut short, someone was tapping on the tent, i opened it up and it was Rick. he wanted me to come outside to speak with him, he didnt seem upset or disappointed with me at all so i felt safe and ok with this. I knew he wasn't going to question my actions, Unless i was making a really terrible desicion, like going back to atlanta, by myself.

"Hey, im sorry about what happened, I dont know what got into him back there, Shane is never like this."

"its alright. could have been way worse."

"I also came to talk to you, About Daryl."

"Oh?"

"we're going to tell him about Merle, i figured you'd want to be with for this. Krista too. He might need some of that "Liquid encouragment"

"Exactly what i was thinking about it. Luckily Shane didn't take it..A shot a day keeps the pain away"

He smirked at me and we went to tell Daryl the news about Merle. Man. it was going to be a long day, i could feel it in my gut...


	6. Chapter 6

As we were walking i could feel Krista's hand pretty much crushing mine, which was understandable. shit was about to get tense.

Daryl was calling out for merle, he was looking for him. which made things a little harder, but we had no other choice, what were supposed to do? Ignore this?

"Hey Daryl, gotta talk to you" Rick and shane pulled him to the side, "What's goin' on" Daryl asked looking puzzled

"Its about merle."

Daryl paused for a moment, clenching his jaw together before speaking.

"Is he dead?"

"we're not sure" Shane added.

"Either he is or he aint!" Daryl spat back.

"There's no easy way to say this so im just going to say it." Rick blurted out, Resting his hands on his hips.

"Spit it out then goddamnit!"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, So i hancuffed him to a roof on a piece of metal, He's still there."

He turned his back to Rick and Shane in disgust " Hold on. Lemme process this; You said you handcuffed my brother to a roof?! and you left him there!?

Rick looked down at his feet with guilt " Yeah" he said quietly

Daryl filled with now anger, He charged at rick, Shane caught him and pulled him back, putting him into a lock

Krista just looked downright pissed, trying to storm upto them I caught her before she jumped in the middle. If there is anyone that knows her more than I do Then me and that person would be in agreement she would cause hell and pain.

Rick now talking to daryl while he's stil in a lock by shane "Now, id like to have a nice, calm disscusion about this topic, that alright with you?"

Daryl gave him an instant death glare.

"What i did was not on a whim, Your brother. does not work and play well with others-

T-Dog cut in; "It's not rick's fault. I had the key, i dropped it- "Couldn' pick it up?!"

"I dropped it down a drain.." T-dog admitted with guilt.

"Tell me where he is. So i can go get 'em" Daryl wasn't at all pleased.

"He'll show you" Lori cut in. then aiming her sentance at Rick "Ain't that right?" Lori was disappointed at Rick's descion to go back and get Merle, but she really couldnt get in the way of her husband's goodwill, He had a point on both parts. He is a danger, but its wrong to leave a man die alone like that..

Rick nodding, "Im goin' back."

Daryl stormed off, Krista went following behind him, i couldnt catch her in time to stop her, i knew he was pissed. and when a man is pissed, It's best to leave him alone, so i went chasing after her. "Daryl! she called out"

aww fuck...

Daryl turned and looked at us, I never seen so much hurt in someone's eyes before. it really killed me.

"Whad'ya two prissies want from me?!"

Krista's eye twitched at the term "Prissies", i just stood there. ive been called far worse.

"I'm sorry about your brother-"I dont want your damn sympathy!

"Fine!, dont fuckin expect any from me then!"

Daryl scoffed and walked into his tent, i was just left standing there in the middle. i wish i could make a joke about sexual tension. but. Krista would slap me and Daryl would probably feed me to walkers. so. yeah. out of the question if i should or shouldn't make that kind of joke.

I went into our tent to check on krista and grab the alcohol and a shot glass for Daryl and i,

I had offered Krista one but she didnt want to come out yet..

No fear, i walked right upto his tent and kicked lightly at the tent door.

"Whad'ya want?!"

Sarcastically i said "Room service!", i heard an annoyed noise come from him. it was rather amusing.. He looked up at me, Bemused, but not so much after i waved a bottle of whisky in front of him and two shot glasses, he waved me to come in and sit, so i did. I could tell before i Zipped up the tent, Shane saw me, and wasnt at all happy..

I sat down on the ground of the tent, poured him a shot of whiskey and passed it to him. Our hands touched as I had passed it to him, my face froze a little, I felt weird so I tryed to break the silence best i could.

"I'm sorry about your brother," he was about to say something and this time *I* cut him off. "No, dont even say shit, i dont care if you dont want to hear it or not. sit the fuck down and listen" He paused and looked at me with his confused glare.

"I know, how it feels to lose someone, not exactly fun. doesnt matter what i lost the person, or persons to, I get it. It sucks., I don't know what i'd do if i lost Krista, She's all i got right now. i dont know where my family is. i can't lose her. i wouldnt exactly be right in the mind anymore, not that i really am now...Anyways, Obviously you seem like you can take care of yourself. im pretty sure your brother can too. I didnt know him that well. only knew him for an hour. where as you've known him for years-

"Months." he said.

I looked up at him after taking a shot, a curious look growing on my face.

"He was in juvy for a while when i was a kid. Was in and out of 'em a lot, but countin' up all tha time i've spent with 'em, It's only been months"

"Sorry to hear that."

Daryl just shrugged, didnt seem that affected by it, He handed me the glass back. and walked out of his tent i followed shortly after, he was goin to our tent,

"Sorry for snappin' at ya missy." he said to krista but before she could accept his apology he split heading toward Rick to talk to him about getting Merle back.


	7. Chapter 7

Me and krista stayed in our tent as Daryl walked off.

"I think im gonna go." She blurted out.

"Go?,Go where?" i asked curiously.

She turned to me, sat up with a look of seriousness on her face.

"With them. to get Merle"

"What? but you-" She cut me off, she really was serious about it. she never cuts me off unless shes serious about something or when she is fangirling.

"No. im going." She grabbed her metal bat, her hunting knife and Strapped it to her Thigh, Grabbed a pistol and Just simply said "Im going. No god damn ifs, ands or buts about it."

She walked out of the tent and I followed her. I wasnt sure what to say ,do or think so the first thing i did, which was something I did on the spot without thinking, it just spilled out. I really didn't want her to go alone. It's not about trust either. Shes going into a hoard's nest with only a few men. Not the military, which still managed to get overruned.

"No!, you can't!" Krista stopped in her tracks. turned to look at me., she looked pissed. i stopped her before she could say anything.

"Not without me you're not going."

"Are you sure, Evy?"

"Positive, Lets do this shit.", Infact I wasn't really positive. But she was so adamant i couldn't control her.

I went back into the tent and grabbed some stuff I had.

We marched over to the group, Daryl was the first to notice us, he was puzzled by what we were even doing over there and especially with all of our stuff.

Rick was talking Daryl to get Merle, he had also asked glenn. to come with

shane wasn't at all pleased and butted in "So we're riskin 3 men?-Me and Krista then jumped in "And two women. We're going. and thats that. No questions about it."

T-dog stepped in adding another, Shane scoffed and stomped off in pure disapproval.

"So whats the plan?" Krista asked.

Rick answered calmly, "We're going to get my bag of guns. and Merle. thats it"

I cocked my head to the side a little, "Bag of guns? we have a shit ton of weapons if you want-" Rick smiled nicely and simply said "No, we're gonna need all the guns we can get our hands on."

Glenn walked up to us and thanked us for comming with them.

We all got in the van and drove off , Daryl was in the back seat between me and krista, i felt bad for him that he had to put up with us but, He didnt look like he minded one bit. He didnt seem assy with us anymore. Me and Krista noticed it, It was as clear as day. But its not something we'd actually mention in front of anyone. and damn well wouldn't be something we'd even bring up to him. that'd be just stupid.

After being in the van for a while.. we had to continue on foot half the way. but it was better than nothing

We got to the building we left him in. we got to the top and T-dog broke the chain and we burtsted through the door but he was nowhere in sight. There was nothing there but his hand. Daryl shouted out "No" a few times. Krista ran to the edge of the building, i chased after her i wish i didnt see what she did but I did, She puked over the edge. we turned back around and the guys were at their necks. Daryl growled and ran up to T-dog, had his bow aimed at him, and rick had his gun aimed at daryl. T-dog was frozen at that point. So were me and Krista as well.

"I won't hesitate" Rick said Sternly,"I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." he added on.

Krista and i both noticed Daryl was far more than just upset. It's like the man was on fire. his emotions where all over the place.

"You got a do-rag or somethin'?" Daryl calmly asked T-dog, with hurt in his voice , from trying to hold back tears, with a mix of stress and anger. He bent down to pick up Merle's hand and he placed it in the bandana.

"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuff" Looking at the hand puzzled and slightly inspecting it, "damn...ain't that a bitch" he wrapped it up and shot a glance at us as he walked over to glenn to put the wrapped up hand in Glenn's backpack. Poor glenn was just horrified.

And When Daryl shot the glance all i saw was pure hurt on his face, so did krista.. probably one of the worse things we could see besides Merle's hand. We weren't exactly able to deal with men upset, it was a weird thing. We hated seeing them cry, it made us want to cry, and them being hurt and vulnerable, It kind of put a stake through us.

I whispered to Her." how you holdin' up?"

"im...holding i guess."

Daryl was now inspecting the Scene, "He must have used a tourniqet, like his belt. There'd be more blood if he didnt." Daryl following the bloody trail Merle had left behind, We had all started to follow behind him at this point. We walked down another set of stairs that were in the building, He called out for his brother, but no answer. We walked downstairs further into some rooms, looked to be like some offices. There was one Walker wandering around, Daryl wasted no time and just put an arrow in its head. A small smirk grew on my face and I silently said to myself "sweet.." I was just so facinated..Not even sure why.

"Had enough in him ta' take out these two sons'a bitches, One handed. Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother, Feed him a hammer he'll crap out nails" Daryl said.

"any man could passout from bloodloss, no matter how tough he is" rick added

We walked into a kitchen looking area, and we noticed a little fire going. Daryl walked over to it to inspect it. Krista and I following shortley after, both of us noticing Merle's belt.

Krista picked up a small metal plate with a handle on it. it looked all mucked up.

"Whats that stuff on it?" Glenn asked

I leaned over near krista looking at what she was holding..

"Its burnt skin, He cauterized the stump.."

, "How do you know that?" Rick smirked at me curiously.

"Eh, Its what happends when you're trapped in a house as a teenager. Lonley, Curious. you get bored as fuck and do things. Self teaching mostly. I watched a lot of cop shows, I loved the detective bits in it. Long story short, If I didn't have any art or music talent, I would have been a detective, still was a back-up if i couldn't succeed in what I wanted-" i looked down and muttered something quietly. "- It's all fucked now." Rick gave me a sympathetic smile and a pat on the back. And Daryl seemed impressed by my analyzation. I also noticed him staring me down again. Drove me curiouser and curiouser every damn time. and im pretty sure when he stared down Krista, If she noticed she probably died a bit.

Daryl looked at the metal plate and us "Told you he was tough, ain't nobody can kill merle but merle."

Rick looked at him seriously. "Dont take that on faith, He's lost a lot of blood.- Daryl cut him off "yeah?" he said walking towards the window " Didn't keep him from bustin' out of this death trap"

"He left the building?, why the hell would he do that?" Glenn asked

"Why wouldn't he?, he's out there alone as far as he knows. Doin' what he's gotta do, Survivin'" Daryl explained to him.

T-dog cuttin in

"You call that survivin'? Walkin out in the streets close to passin' out?, What are his odds out there?"

"Nothin' Worse than bein' handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks,. Now turning to rick. "You couldnt kill him, I ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard''

"What about a thousand dumb dead bastards? Different story." Rick added

Why dont'ya take a tally? and do what you want. Im gonna go get him"

Attempting to walk off, Rick stopped him in his tracks and Daryl snapped back and growled

"Get your hands off me! You cant stop me!"

Rick trying to talk some sense into the man, "I dont blame you, He's family,I get that. i went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel, He can't get far with that injury, we can help you check a few blocks around, but only if we keep a level head."

Daryl answered, seeming kind of cocky at that point. "I can do that."

T-dog jumping in again, "Only if we get those guns first, Im not strolling these streets of atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

Me and krista just silent watching all of this off to the side.

i wish i could just fix all of this with a snap of a finger.


	8. Chapter 8

Krista blurted out, "So, *Ahem* what do we do?"

Glenn scurried around the office we went into, grabbed a marker and some random objects. he started to draw a map on the floor of the City, and he had suggested he'd go and get the bag of guns himself.

"You're not doing this alone" Rick stated

"Even i think its a bad idea and i dont even like you much'' Daryl added

Glenn trying to make the group and us feel better about it, he re-assures Rick of his plan.

"It's a good idea, okay? if you just hear me out., If we go out there in a group, we're slow, Drawing attention, If im alone, i can move fast, Look, Heres the tank, 5 blocks from where we are now, And here's the bag of guns, Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met, That's where Daryl, Evy, and I will go"

"Why us?" Daryl asked

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun, And Evy you're a fast thinker, if anything bad happends you'll be able to get through it"

"You can't possibly-Glen cut me off, "I saw you, in the red car, out the window as it was driving, Swinging at the Geeks with your metal bat" Glenn smirked," Im pretty sure you'll be alright."

I looked down at my feet and blushed a bit. i guess that was pretty badass wasnt it?..

"While Daryl and Evy wait here in the alley, I run up the street, Grab the bag."

"But you got us elsewhere?" rick asked

"You, T-dog and krista, Will be in this alley here."

"2 blocks away,why?"

"I may not be able to come back the same way, Walkers might cut me off, if that happends, I wont go back to Daryl and Evy, I'll go forward instead, around to that alley where you guys are, Whichever direction I go, I got you guys in both places to cover me, Afterwards we'll all meet back here."

"Hey kid, what'ja do before all this?" Daryl asked.

"Delivered pizzas, why?

Krista got off the desk she was sitting on, had a huge smile plastered on her face and turned twoards "Hey, Glenn.."

"Yeah Krista?"

"After this is all over, if the world goes back to the way it was, and lets say we're all fine, Can i get a discount on a pizza for all this?"

I shook my head at her ridiculous cute idea and glenn just laughed and approved of the idea.

we got outside and climbed back down the escape ladder, Went to our seperate areas.

I dragged krista away for a moment before we seperated ."Hey, krista."

"Yeah evy?"

"You die, i'll kill you"

"wait, what but, what?..." It was so amusing when she got confused, I never understood how or why it was so easy to confuse her but it was hilarious when I did.

"Exactly." She smiled and ran off with T-dog and Rick.

Me glenn, and Daryl all sneeked our way up the alley

Daryl started loading up his crossbow, Getting ready for whatever may come. "You got some balls for a china-man."

"Im korean" Glenn corrected, rolling his eyes at Daryl

"Whatever."

Daryl lowered and aimed his crossbow ready to fire at anything and I had my bat ready to swing at will, I was against the wall and Daryl was against the dumpster, waiting for Glenn or our signal to run back to the ladder.

We heard footsteps assuming it was one of the walkers, Daryl shot up and drew his crossbow, It was a teen, he looked like he was part of a gang.

"Woah dont shoot me! what do you want!?"

"Im lookin' for my brother, he's hurt real bad, you seen him?"

The kid started yelling and at that point i was ready to just beat him into silence.

"Shut up or you're gonna bring the geeks down on us!" Daryl shouted, trying to shut the dumbass up.

He just wouldnt stop yelling, it finally struck a nerve in Daryl and He swung his bow at the kid's face. still he was yelling., before i knew it I was shoved up against the wall really hard. I had hit my head against the brick wall falling, trying to catch myself on the dumpster. Instead I ended up hitting my head again on that, I fell and hit the floor. I swear to god I thought I could see birds, I was so dizzy, I couldnt do anything but hear, everything I saw was a blur. sound was a tad muffled to be honest. ringing was all i was hearing. faint just went dark Last thing I was able to make out was these men beating on Daryl.

Krista and the rest of them came running into the scene

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat! he yelled at the kid, Rick, krista and T-Dog arrived over."They took glenn! this little bastard and his bastard homie friends!"

Pointing at the kid yelling at him "Im gonna stomp your ass!"

"Where is Evy?!"

Krista asked, she was upset and confused,

Rick had found me by the dumpster near the walker infested fence, he picked me up and piggy backed me I started to awaken a little bit. just enough to hold onto him enough so he didnt have to do all the work in piggy backing me being shaken around and carried was making me dizzy again so i just closed my eyes and I ended up passing back out

"Shit, what do we do?" Rick said.

Krista jumped in and spoke up."There was a car, i remember not far from here. I'll carry her there provided the keys are still in the area i saw them. if not , I'll figure some shit out and take her back to camp, If it doesnt work then i'll just carry her there myself."

She carried me all the way to the car and luckily it worked, drove me all the way back to camp. next thing i knew. i was in the RV, Shane was sitting beside me bandaging up my head the best he could and fixing any bruises and cuts. I didnt like him but it was nice of him to provide help for me. I tried to sit up but started to feel dizzy again and just didnt want to sit up anymore

"What happend out there?" he asked

I don't- I dont know, there was this kid. And he wouldnt shut up kept yelling next thing I knew i was hitting the wall, then the dumpster beside me then the floor, where is krista?"

"She's sitting outside with Lori and Carl."

"ya know, i dont like you very much for the way you acted with me when i first got here, but i appreciate the help you are giving me right now. you didn't have to."

"You're welcome, Im sorry 'bout the way i acted, was..Unnecessary of me, and wrong."

"I accept your apology." , He patted me on the shoulder, left me with a bottle of water and walked off, I just layed there turned my back over and rested.

Krista walked into the RV and poked at me. "Evy?"

"Hey Krispee Treat." I always loved calling Krista that, It was the nickname i had given her. and dollface was mine.

"How're you feeling?" She asked moving over to my bedside.

I looked up at her, i think i wanted to laugh but if I tried to. It probably would have hurted or something."physically? like shit, Mentally? like shit also. I'm worried about the boys."

"I am too, Evy," she looked down. Trying not to think about it, playing with the tips of her hair, twirling them, trying to take her mind off the situation, I looked up at her curiously and asked "So, Krista, how the hell. did I end up back here?"

She turned away from me and blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. "I kinda..carried you to this car i had found.. that i saw on the way there, and i drove it here.."

I sat up the best i could and gave her a hug and thanked her.

"I hate how i said if you die I'd kill you, and it was me that ended up almost dying."

"Its okay, Evy"

Walking out the Rv she said quietly "You owe me."

"I what?"

"Im kidding Evy,"

"oh, okay..i was about to say."

"Heh, Get some rest."

"I did as she said and layed down and napped.

i woke up hours later, night had fell on us and the boys still werent back. it made me miss Cellphones and texting more than ever.

Christopher came into the RV, plopped a deck of cards next to me, and some of the fish they fried. I thought it was nice of him to bring me dinner "Wanna play some poker?"

"haha, sure kid" I loved playing poker more than anything. it was always my favorite card game.

"So, Can I call you chris?"

"sure" he said and smiled, He seemed like such a happy kid.

I looked at him curiously "So, Chris, Whats your story? dont have to share if you dont want to. just curious cause you dont look like any of them, The morales family, and I know they said they found you but, how?"

"Well. me and my real family just moved here, To be quite honest. I hate it here, the kids are bullies, just as bad as where I was living before, The bell rang when it happend- but it was the fire alarm bell. We all ran out of the school and the teachers weren't letting any of the kids go into the gym, after leaving the school with the group I snuck back in and the kids were eating the Princible"

"Oh my god" my jaw dropped a bit.

"meh, its ok, i didnt like him anyways. i think thats the only good thing about this, Getting to see the people we dislike and hate leave us finally. But it doesnt make up for the ones we've lost."

"No it doesn't, i try not to think about that sorta thing. My family, I dont know where they are, and I miss them. I have faith in my parents that nothing bad will happen its just, how long before they run out of things. you know?"

We heard someone open the door to the RV, it was amy, she went to the bathroom but came out two seconds later, She walked up to me, smiled softly,"questing for toilet paper, seen any?"

Me and chris both nodded No, she walked off and we heard nothing but a scream and many more following after it.


	9. chapter 9

I shot up in pain from my wounds running towards the screams I heard. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. I saw Amy get attacked by a walker and many more surrounding and invading the camp. I ran back grabbing my bat, wincing at the pain from my injury giving me a decent headache, but didn't care I proceeded on. Chris following after me.

I whacked the Zombie attacking Amy, Calling Andrea to be with her, I watched Chris run after some of the walkers head on. I ran after some myself, I was just pissed at what I was seeing, Couldn't believe my eyes, but I knew the camp wasn't going to be safe forever. That something like this could happen.

I soon heard gunfire off in a distance, It was the guys coming back from their run, saw Glenn with them, I was glad he was able to return safely, I had paused for a moment to take a breather, and it was probably a bad idea, but I couldn't stop myself from being dizzy, I hope I didn't have a concussion. I Got up again and started running and beating the crap out of all the walkers I could get to. .Was really hard to watch all the people I couldn't get to fall to the floor.

The boys arrived to the scene and killed what was left of them, I didn't see the walker coming up from behind me, But I could hear it. Didn't really matter because before I even turned to notice it and beat it's skull in, Daryl took it out with his crossbow instead, Nodding to me in a "you're welcome" type gesture, Nodding in response as a thank you,

''Evy!'' Krista nearly tackled me to the floor. Sobbing, Nothing I could really say or do besides hold her.

We worked all night till the sun rose to dispose of the bodies, made sure they were dead and gone. I noticed everyone taking a break for a moment to discuss what to do about Amy.

'We gotta take care of it, We can't leave it be forever'' Krista noted, I couldn't agree more but Andrea needed time to mourn, That was probably the only family she had left now since the apocalypse started, there was really no way of being sure the rest of Andrea's and Amy's family were alive,

Lori pretty much noted what I was thinking, Andrea needing time to mourn, Daryl stomped off in a huff, A huff of disgust, And I could hear him shouting ' Ya'll had this comin'!, Leavin' my brother for dead!'' As he walked past shane I could see the disgusted look on his face as he spat in front of him,

I could agree with all of them, I just would have never said it, I thought there was enough fighting, I found myself going after Daryl, He heard my foot steps and stopped abruptly and turned to face me.

''What'ya want?'' I could see how pissed he was, Considering his brother was the only family he had left himself, He could have maybe agreed with Lori and just walked off if he wasn't still pissed about his brother being missing, but then again, Im not too sure.

"Daryl, Let me help, With the bodies, And im sorry about their insolence.. Sad to say, I do not know them very well, but im not sure how long they will last. As much as I'd like to agree with everyone, No one seems to be applying common sense anymore." I turned to look at the group.

''No offence but, I don't know how the hell you've made it this far, Not you specifically, But them, There really is no order, Only madness everywhere. I mean look what happened? Walkers just invaded the fuckin' camp. And why so close to the city? They should have known something like this was gonna fuckin' happen. I mean I can understand a pitstop for a 2 to 3 days to hunt for any food, fishing, but they've made themselves rather comfy here, How long have you all been here?''

Daryl looked down at his feet, knowing I was right but didn't want to say it, Muttered '' Few weeks..''

''Are you fucking kidding me? A few weeks? What a waste of time! No one seemed to be injured or anything, fully able!''

Daryl scoffed in disgust and started to work on finishing off some of the bodies, Right as he was about to slam his pickaxe into Ed's head, Carol came over and did it instead. I could see the pain in her face and Daryl's face tensing up as Carol slammed the pick-axe into the corpse's head. The 3rd hit to his head was filled with anger, and the last hit was filled with relief. Relief she and her daughter were going to be free from that piece of shit she sadly called a 'husband'.

As me and Daryl worked on the bodies we heard shouting coming from Jacqui, Jim was bitten.

Daryl wanted to go at him head on and get it over with, Rick had stopped him right in his tracks, pulling his gun out at him, ''We do not kill the living'' He said

Daryl turned around, Scoffed and said ' Funny coming from a man pointing a gun at my head.''

He walked off pissed and I just left to continue clean up, I didn't really want to get involved in all the arguments, I just wanted to clean this shit up and get it over with, and I didn't really feel it was my place to join in on these arguments, considering I didn't know any of these people, Unless of course I was asked to join in, Or more like dragged in.

We had reached the end of the day, packing up to head on the road again, We were going to sleep one more day, for what ever reason they thought it was a good idea, I will never know.

I stood outside that night looking up at the sky, I haven't seen the stars shine so bright in a long ass time, I heard footsteps come up from behind me, I turned to see Krista, she didn't look too pleased or anything, I mean I wouldn't expect her to be after the kind of day we've had, But there was just something off about her.

'Hey, Uhm. Evy...?''

''Yeah?, Is something wrong?, You don't seem right.''

''I was talking to Morales and Chris, They are leaving in the morning to find family..''

''Oh, Well, I Hope they find them..'' I drew her in close and gave her a hug and she muttered something to me, something striking and it bothered me

''I'm going with them...''

''What!?, But you can't Krista!?, Why!?''

''Evy, I think it is just better you and I part ways. I don't want to see you go down. I just- Im scared,. I love you Evy, I really do, but I cannot handle this shit as is..''

''And that is why we should stick together!''

''I know.. But I think we should just. Do this because it would spare us the pain if we are already parted..''

''But, Krista!''

''Evy, Im going, I've made my decision''

'But, I thought we were going to search for your uncle!'

''Evy, just- There is no point. He's probably dead anyways and I'm done. I'm going to go. I'm serious.'

She looked down at her feet, giving me a painful sympathetic look then gave me a tight hug and walked off. I fell to my knees and screamed internally, Tearing the grass out of the ground, pounding my fists into it.

I heard more footsteps from behind me. I shot up and turned around, It was Daryl.

''What happened?'' I was shocked he asked me anything, Insinuating the question if I was okay or not, he heard a little bit of what was happening

''She is leaving me.., She think's it'd be better if we parted ways, to spare us the pain of seeing each other leave- If we turned into walkers.''

Daryl wasn't sure what to say really. His brother, the only person he had, regardless if he cared about Merle, was ripped away from him, Where as Krista was just picking up and abandoning me, He wasn't sure what to say really so he just stood next to me, waving a bottle of whiskey in front of my face.

''Wanna' drink?''

I couldn't help but accept it, ' Sure.'

I snuck into my tent for my sleeping bag to set on the ground and then we walked off to his tent. Smelled like cigarettes, alcohol...And man.

He pulled out his favorite shot glasses and poured some whiskey for us.

''Ha, Never thought you'd be the type to pack luxury items.''

He smirked for a split second and took his shot. I looked at him and just randomly spoke out, didn't even care. ' So. Shot for a question? I'd be happy to oblige in this little game and answer questions aswell.''

He peeked at me while downing his second shot, interested in this little game.

''so, What's your story, short stuff?''

''Well. Grew up in fuckin' Illinois, butt-fuck middle of no-where. Never really been outside. Was always a shut in due to the disgust for most of the world..'' I said as I then downed another shot.

"What 'bout you?''

''Meh, Grew up without parents, My mom left when I was little, my dad was a drunk, was never around. Merle was always in 'n' outta' juvy, so I was left ta' fend for myself, taught ma'self how to hunt when I was thirteen, sick of starvin' for the sake of them bastards.''

''Damn, sounds pretty rough.''

''Yep, So, got anybody else 'sides Krista or?''

I paused for a moment, staring at the droplet in my shot glass. ''Not sure to be honest, My family, not sure where they are, Any friends I had, I hope to god they made it out." Looking off to the side in annoyance''..If he exists. Sorry, no offence. I don't think if god or Jesus or who ever the fuck it is existed, The world wouldn't be like this, Since he makes miracles or so I've heard.''

Daryl nodded in understandment, and we took our last shots, I probably shouldn't have been drinking, considering my head feeling fucked from the fall on the dumpster, He could already tell I was feeling dizzy from the look on my face, Only having three shots.

''s'matter?, Can't hold your booze?' he said smirking.

''Shut the fuck up. I got hit on the head, so I was already fucked, I can hold my booze quite well actually..'' He chuckled a little bit under his breath, amused by my swearing.

''I should turn in. We obviously got a big day ahead of us. On the road and what not.''

''Yeah, should prolly do tha' same.''

I was about to get up from sitting on the ground and just felt dizzy as fuck and landed back on the floor on my knees.

''Nope. Doesn't look like im movin' anytime soon then. Well fuck me sideways..''

I didn't notice Daryl was downing another shot when I said that. He choked on it a bit I turned to him amused, I didn't think such a comment would disturb him. 'Sorry, Didn't know you were drinking.''

'' s'fine. You can sleep here if ya' want. Don't know what you'll do if they find ya' in here though.''

''Honestly, I could care less about what they think. It's none of their business what I do. I ain't hurtin' anyone..'' I said tossing my pillow along with the sleeping bag on the other cot.

''Damn straight, I like yer thinkin'"

''Thanks I try.''

He walked off to the opposite side of his tent from me, his tent was pretty big. Considering it had to be to fit him and his brother in it. He took his shirt off, searching around to see if he had another one, considering I made him spill some of his drink on his other one. I couldn't help but stare at him as he was striping his shirt off , and searching around, I didn't notice he caught me staring though, Probably the most embarrassing moment of my existence.

''Take a picture, Lasts longer.''

My eyes grew wide and my face flew into a million different shades of red, Wasn't sure what I was more taken by, Him being shirtless. The comment. Or the fact he caught me, I think it was just all of it. Trying to find the words to speak for a moment, Stuttering mentally. Felt like my tongue was tumbling down a damn hill at this point' ''Shut up'' was all I could muster. I just turned away to fix my bed, ended up sleeping in Merle's bed, felt weird and old, and worn to hell, but it was better than nothing and sadly. I didn't really want to look at krista right now..


	10. Chapter 10

I layed there on the cot, tired, dizzy, but couldn't sleep. I snuck my hand under Daryl's bed where he put the whiskey and took a drink hopeing maybe it'd make me dizzy and magically fall asleep or something. Before I was about to take another drink, Daryl's hand darted and grabbed my wrist, he layed there smirking, He still seemed kinda drunk, didn't seem like he slept either. As much of a hardass he was, He was still human like the rest of us, and the ammount of shit that happened earlier. It took it's toll on everyone. Including Daryl, whether he was going to admit it or not.

''What'ya doin' you brat?''

''Stealing a drink, What's it look like you oaf?''

''pff, ya' won' even be able ta' make it back to tha' bed if ya keep drinkin'.''

''HA!, If there was a table I'd drink you under it.''

''Hmph, Then what?''

''Guess we'll just have to find out what happends next then huh?' I said as I grinned taking another drink.

I peeked at him whilst I was drinking and he snatched the bottle from me, tackled me down, Pretty much straddling me stealing a drink from the near empty bottle, in the process of all this some had spilt on me and my shirt was decently wet.

''Oh my god. You fuckin' jerk!''

He peeked down at me, chuckling, and just stayed there. A smirk started to play upon his lips and i squinted at him, ''What? What are you smirking at?''

Daryl lazily set the bottle of Whiskey to the side and then he leaned down, Hovering over me with his hands at each side of my head, His face only inches away from mine, I could smell the whiskey on his breath, All still with the smirk on his face.

"You still haven't told me what you are smirking at."

He rolled over off me and layed to the side, I turned over, my back facing him, Trying to process what just happened, Suddenly felt something lightly fall on me, I looked over and it was one of his shirts. " Whats this for?" I asked furrowing my brows making a scrunchy look with my face.

"Cause, Yer shirts all wet." He paused for a moment, Looked like he was trying to think of someting else to say instead turned around so I can change. I Peeled off the soaked shirt and threw it to the side to pick up later so it could be hung up and air dried, I slipped on his shirt, It was a sleeveless button up flannel, Just like a few of his other ones, It was so big compared to my small frame, Being 4'10'' I was pretty much swimming in it, It covered my short-shorts and it almost looked like I wasn't wearing anything underneath, Two things crossed my mind at this point "_Oh how provocative this can be and look to some.." _And _"I can see it now, The rest of the camp staring at me awkwardly." _ I honestly though didn't give a shit. I was about to lose my friend tomorrow and it's not like I'm twelve, I am a grown woman, Capable of making my own desicions. My personal business is no one's, That is why it is called "Personal Business".

The only thing that ran through my mind that bothered me was Shane. Doesn't matter if he was the one that nursed me earlier, I still didn't trust him after that huffle me and him had, But I'd never make it obvious that I didn't trust him, I wanted to be here, I had no place else to go anyways, So I had to do my best to stay out of trouble and play nice with everyone, Best I could do was just observe everyone from a distance and learn how to fit in best as I could.

" You can turn around now Daryl" He turned around with an amused look on his face

"Yer Swimmin' in tha' shirt, short stuff."

I scrunched up my face and I could feel my face heating up a little, I was starting to like the little "Pet Name" he'd given me now. I leaned down and picked up the wet shirt of mine, " So where should we hang this?"

He reached out his hands and took it from me, " I'll go hang it up on tha' line outside tha' tent."

As he went to do so I made myself comfy as I could on a worn out old cot and eventualy drifted off to sleep.

I was slowly waking up the next morning, I could hear Krista off in a distance, asking where I was, I guess she was leaving already, I felt something poke and shake my leg. "'Ey, Ya' brat. Get up.''

I literally rolled over off the cot, Purposely. " I don't want to." I muttered

"Get up, Or imma drag ya' out." The sterness in his voice made me shoot up immediately, I was positive if I pushed him, He'd probably really drag me out, And honestly, I did not want to find out. "Alright, Alright, Fine. I'm up." I stumbled up, Slight hangover. I popped out of Daryl's tent, As suspected, Odd looks, A grin slowly crept up on my face and I was snickering internally, I could see Shane giving me a disgusted glare. "_shit_" I thought. "_ oh well,_" I thought to myself, Trying hard not to just snicker out in the open though. I slipped on my boots and walked over to Krista

"Heard you callin' for me or somethin' "

"Yeah, I'm gonna head off" She looked down at her feet, I could feel the guilt emit off her.

"So you're really going through with this aren't you?" I asked tossing her a stern look.

"Evy.."

"No, Don't. Just stop- I could feel the tears forming and slide down my cheeks. She looked like she was going to say something, Instead just pulled me into a hug and apologized, and walked off to I guess pack up the rest of her things. I stood there, Once again in pain because of someone that would now get the title 'Someone I used to know" or " This friend I had" Regardless of the apocalypse, This was something I sadly had to deal with often, People leaving me. It just made my life that much harder, and yet people would tell me, "Other people have it so much worse than you!" Im pretty fuckin' sure that is not something you say to someone who is depressed.

I stood there not really sure what to do, I heard foot steps get closer to me, coming from the side, Twas Shane. First thought of mine "_Ugh, fuck, What does he want now..?"_

"Hey, Im sorry about Krista, I tried to talk to her, and get her to stay but she was just so adamant about leaving I couldn't get her to change her mind."

I Looked Shane in the eyes, I knew he was lying, I already knew the type of person he was by the looks he's been giving me, The tones in his voice, everything. Especially the look he gave me when I came out of Daryl's tent moments ago, I knew he didn't try to talk Krista out of anything, He just wanted my attention so I would cry in his arms, From what I understand, He used to be with Lori, But when Rick came back everything changed, he had found what he was looking for and it obviously upset shane in some way. Most likely jealously, But it wasn't enough of it to make me pay him sympathy, He wasn't in any real pain, At least he wasn't in my eyes, Regardless of his back story or not, I didn't feel like paying him any sympathy, Because that is all it was, We both lost someone, I could tell he was hoping for a pity fuck,

"Meh, That's Krista for ya'."

He faked a sympathetic look and put his hand on my shoulder, I wanted to throw up, and hopefully I could throw up on his face, "_ eww, He's touching meee" _ Was all that was running through my head. I heard another set of foot steps come up from behind me, The scent of whiskey ran into my nose, It pretty much signaled it was Daryl, He stood really close next to me, and It made Shane somewhat stomp off in his usual attitude, I looked over and up at Daryl. "I take it you don't like him." I said wiping the tears off my face with a half ass smirk,, Best smirk I could give, Given the circumstances. "No, I don' Somethin' is jus' off with Shane, Not that I'd ever say a damn thing." I turned twords him and stared for a moment curiously "Why not?" I asked

He then replyed with "Eh, No one would really listen' ta' me anyways, I'm jus some redneck ta' them, 'Sides, He'll eventually make an ass of himself at some point anyways, Rather Jus' wait fer that."

"Ah, Makes sense then. And by the way. I don't see you as 'Some redneck' To me, you are a good man, I can tell. You just need to be given a chance to show it, but it doesn't seem like they are willing to donate the time" He looked down at me," If you weren't a good man, or had any good in you at all, You wouldn't have stopped Shane when he had his hands on me. He looked down at his feet then back at me. " I don' like the way he looks at ya' either, It's obvious he can't get nothin' outta Lori anymore, So he's gonna just go fer the first thin' he sees and likes, And there's no better way ta' strike at ya' or any woman than when yer vunerable."

"True, Well, He ain't gettin' this pussy." That reply made him chuckle a little. I noticed everyone saying their goodbyes to Krista, Chris and the Morales family, I dragged myself over there, Shooting daryl an "I'll be back" look I hugged everyone goodbye, I had hoped everyone would be okay,

"Krista, You take care of yourself. I mean it."

"Yes ma'am." I hugged her tight and I stood there watching them get into the car and drive away.

I kind of stomped off, kicking rocks that were in my way off to the side, Barging into my tent in a huff, just angry and upset and then I noticed out of the corner of my eye a red shoestring tied into a little ribbon, wrapping itself around some sort of object wrapped up up in newspaper and a little piece of paper with it, I sat down on my cot and I opened it up and right as I was about to read it, A tapping against my tent occured, I got up and opened it up and it was Daryl, I let him in and he sat on the tarp covered ground.

"What's this?" he asked pointing at the wrapped up gift,

"Im not entirely sure." I reached for the note and read it with Daryl at my side, silently reading it with me. It said:

"_Dear Evy,_

_I never thought I'd actually get to meet you, and to be quite honest, I didn't think it would turn into this, Ever. _

_After I brought you back from looking for Merle, I went back shortly after, I went on a run on my own, Probably really dangerous but I didn't care. I got this gift for you, I saw it in one of the stores we passed as we came here, When I came back you weren't awake yet, So it gave me enough time to ask Dale if he had some sort of paper, didn't care what kind. And I hid it from you before you woke up. I do hope you enjoy this gift, After all, It is your birthday. I have been keeping track of the days, Happy 20__th__ birthday Evy."_

_Love and Peace, Krista xo"_

I nearly died reading the letter, My face fell into my hands tears once again slowly rolling down my face, I picked my head up and crawled down to the ground infront of the decently sized wrapped up gift, And I felt Daryl pat me on the back, I turned twoards the gift and started to tear it open. My eyes grew wide with surprise.

"Hol-ee, Shit'' Daryl said with wide eyes.

It was a PSE TAC- 15 Crossbow complete with a shit ton of arrows Probably more than I needed, Like as if she stole the whole shelf, they were sharp and fresh, I could see the look on Daryl's face, He looked a little jealous so I handed him 5 packages of the arrows, There was 80 in a package, and I had 10 packages. So all together there was 800 arrows I thought it couldn't hurt to split the package we still each had 400 arrows. More than enough if you think about it, Considering he would just pull the arrows out of the twice dead corpses when he was done with them, Made me realize I should do the same to conserve them.

''We should go huntin' before we pack up and leave the area completely they still have to pack up a shit ton anyways. We should at least have some food to take with us if needed."

Daryl nodded in agreement, "I'll be back, I'll go get my shit so we can go."

"Alrighty." I stepped out of my tent after Daryl, There was Shane again shortly after Daryl left to get his things. I looked up at the tall man, "Yes Shane?

"Just wanted to inform you we are packin up pretty soon, Watcha got there?"

" oh, well. Uhm, Before Krista left she wrapped me up a gift, which was this, Apparently today is my birthday. Shes been keeping track of the days."

"Oh?, Looks like a pretty nice bow too."

"Yep. One of the expensive ones. Daryl and I are going to go hunting before we leave because we figured It'd be smart to have food for the road incase of anything."

"True, well. Becareful. And Happy Birthday."

"Will do. And thank you."

I walked off with my stuff to go meet Daryl at his tent.

"Hey, Daryl, I'll help you skin and gut the animals too if you want."

"You ain't gonna go all girly on me are ya?'' he smirked and said

"Oh . ha. No."

"Good." after that we went off hunting.


	11. Chapter 11

As we wandered the woods we had already gained a few rabbits and some squirrels, I tapped on Daryl and pointed towards the deers I spotted, I got close to his ear and whispered to him; " You get the one on the right, I'll get the one on the left." We both raised our bows at the same time and at the deers and on the count of 3 we shot them at the same time.

I watched the deer drop down, a small "Fuck yeah" escaped my lips, We walked towards the deers, One was a small one and one was a big one.

"Daryl, How in the hell do we get these back?"

He looked around at his surroundings. "Well. Tha' camp ain't far from here, So we wouldn' be draggin' em very far."

"Alright, I'll get the small one, Obviously."

Right as Daryl turned around he noticed a few geese around.

"Where the hell are all these damn animals coming from?" I asked curiously.

He looked at me, For the first time I saw him filled with joy, Like a kid in a candy store

"I dunno, But this is fuckin' awesome" It seemed hunting was something that kept him busy, Or maybe just being in the woods, I dunno. But Daryl happy was a good thing.

I grinned and let him shoot up the geese, He was only able to get 2 of them so we hauled ass and went back to camp.

We returned to camp and half of it was already packed up. We walked over to Daryl's truck and set down all the dead animals in the back of it and wrapped em up to prevent the smell from emitting anymore than it was. I felt a feeling of satisfaction wash over me that I helped kill the animals and we'd get a few decent meals from this. Daryl peeked down at me throwing me a lopsided grin

and walked off, I watched him curiously as he disappeared into the woods, I turned back around to make sure the dead animals were secure and wrapped up tight and then the next thing I know Daryl was back and he had put something in my hair, I looked at him confused and pulled out what he put in my hair and looked at it, It was a random wildflower, I looked up at him, smiling and asked "What's this for?" I

He looked down at me softly, It was so different to see him at peace instead of angry or peeved. He replied:

"You, Happy birthday." I looked up at him and said "Thank you ,Daryl, It's beautiful." What I did next was pretty bold considering I didn't know him that long but I did care about him, and I just thought he deserved it, and I couldn't help but notice the peeping tom known as Shane watching us, So might as well give him a show right?, sitting on the back of Daryl's truck being so short as is I got up on my knees, and Daryl looked at me curiously, I wrapped my arms around him for a hug and pecked his cheek and he looked down at me his face flushed with a bit of red, He smiled a bit and walked off "I'm gonna' pack up my stuff, Catch ya' later, short stuff."

Before he left completely out of distance I called out to him "Daryl!, Can I ride in the truck with you?"

He stopped in his tracks and looked back at me with a 'Sure' type nod and went off to pack up his things, as did I. I knew He kind of liked me, but he'd probably never even admit it to me or himself. He just didn't seem like the type no offense, It wasn't a typical man thing either, He was like a little kid. Just did things, He was shy and that was one of the things I liked about him.

As I was packing up my tent to give to the rest of the group to put with the other tents, I heard someone's foot steps walk up behind me, stomping and that someone tapped me on the shoulder, I turned around and it was Shane "_ugh" _I thought.

"Hey , Shane, Whats up?" I asked trying to be nice and struggling with putting my tent away

"Here lemme help you with that."

"Thanks, I guess."

"I wanted to talk to you about something, Evy."

"Yes?, Go on?"I asked curiously raising a brow.

"I noticed you been hanging around Daryl a lot lately."

"_shit..._"- "And?"

"I Just thought you should be careful around him, He's not all that grea-" After that. I was done trying to be nice, Done trying to listen, I cut him off.

"Okay. I am not entirely sure what you are getting at here, Shane, but what I do with who is none of **your** business" At the corner of my eye I noticed Daryl observing the conversation Shane and I were having, he seemed like he was ready to step in at any time now if need be.

"Daryl isn't some redneck, or bad guy like his brother, no offense, If I feel something is wrong, I will address it, I can fucking take care of my self, Like right now. I suggest you stop poking around in my business." He then grabbed me by the shoulders and got real close in, His face only inches from mine.

"Now listen here-" "No, You listen, Don't think I don't know what you're up to and what kind of person you are, I'm not that fuckin' stupid, I know what you're trying to do, Just back off already" I shoved him off of me and Shane shoved me to sit down and shortly after , I saw Daryl heading towards the scene and once again saving my ass and dragging Shane off me.

Daryl got in His face and said "Why don't ya' back tha' hell off her and do yer job of defending the lil' ones instead of a grown woman." Shane looked like he wanted to hit Daryl and say something. And I swear to whatever god or gods there are I would start shit if he did. Shane stomped off and Daryl came over. " You slright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, You seen Lori and Rick around anywhere?, I need to talk to them about this. I am done with this shit, they need to know to keep an eye out, Regardless if I can take care of myself or not, They should know."

"Well, I saw Lori with tha' kids helpin' em' pack up their things at tha' table."

"Thanks , Daryl"

I walked off looked at the ground as I was walking, realizing I was still in his shirt, Smirking to myself at how much of a jealous bastard Shane has become, and over nothing.

I walked up to Lori and she looked up at me with a smile on her face and a little bit of curious confusion, Considering Her and I have never actually talked face to face in any way, we talked yeah, but in a group, Never one on one.

"Hey, Uhm. Lori?"

"Hey dear, Whats goin' on.?"

I looked down at my feet hesitant, "I gotta talk to you about something, You and Rick both at the same time. Where is he?"

She set down whatever she was holding and said to me: "Well he's in the RV at the moment, With Jim and Jacqui, They're takin' care of him right now."

"Oh, well, Uhm. I'll be around just, Both of you come and look for me when you are free, but it needs to be before we head off and onto the road."

"Okay hun, We'll be there in a bit then."

I walked off and continued with packing my things.

A bit of time passed and Rick and Lori came up to me curiously what I wanted to talk to them about.

"Hey Evy, Lori said you wanted to talk to us." I turned around to face them and I took a deep breath and began. "I don't really know the situation with You, Lori and Shane, But I've heard enough, I don't judge, Who ever is with who is your own business, whatever happened in the past with the three of you is none of my business unless you want it to be, I don't judge and I'm always willing to listen if any of you need someone to talk to, But I need to talk to you both about Shane." I saw Lori bite her lower lip and was in a worried state of mind then, and Rick was just curious and confused. "Well, Whats wrong?" He asked resting his hands on his hips.

I took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh; "It's happened a few times now, I've noticed Shane spying on me with Daryl and he's been kind of harassing me, and twice already Daryl has had to pull Shane off of me, Literally. Thing is, Yes, I can take care of myself, but this is pushing the line and I didn't feel right about the idea of hiding it from you guys considering you two have the most history with him, I am sorry if I've wasted your time in any way, I just needed to get this out so it could be handled, or watched, something I dunno." I said as I threw my hands in the air frantically, ruffling my own hair in my frustration, turning around to pack up what was left of my things, I sighed and turned back around, Rick was standing there, and he looked at Lori and then back at me, "I'll have a word with him." Rick stated,

"I'm sorry-" Lori cut me off " No, It's not your fault, Don't be sorry , Honey, I'm glad you told us." She said giving me a small smile and a hug, even though I didn't know her that long, She was growing on me quick, She was sweet to me, Kind of like an adoptive mother.

After we packed everything up we were ready to hit the road, First I heard Fort Benning, and Now it was the CDC, Hopefully that was going to work out as planned, I walked to Daryl's truck and made myself comfy in the passenger seat, I saw off in a distance Shane once again staring at me, I scoffed and as Daryl got into the drivers seat he heard it, "S'matter?"

"Shane. He just can't take his fuckin' eyes off me, I wonder, Maybe I should rip them out."

he looked at me and smirked "Yer sick."

I grinned back at him and said "I know"

After a while of driving, The cars ahead of us had stopped and so did ours slowly, I got out of the car so did Daryl after it came to a halt. Everyone was crowding up at the RV

"What's going on?" I asked

Jacqui spoke up, "It's Jim, He's not doing so good."

I walked over to her and gave her a comforting hug and asked the group; "So what do we do?"

Dale mentioned we should let him decide what he wants.

After enough of the talking they took Jim outside under a tree, He wanted to be there, Alone, to wait for death to come on it's own, All he wanted now was just to be with his family, regardless of a cure in existence or not, to him, This was it for him and he knew it, and sadly he welcomed death. We all said our goodbyes to him and drove off.

I sat in Daryl's truck, and he caught me spacing out, Thinking.

He waved his hand in front of my face. " Hey, you,"

I snapped out of it after a moment, "Yes?"

"What'r ya' thinkin' 'bout?"

"Just―Things." We sat there in silence for a few moments before I spoke up

"If I get bit,- He cut me off there and slightly winced at that thought, I noticed the look on his face "No, Ya ain't getting' bit." His tone was stern, and protective. I didn't say anything after that, I just laid back in the seat Looked over at him shooting him a small apologetic smile, I was unaware that he would say such a thing to me to be honest. I stared out the window at the sky closed my eyes and drifted into a nap.

We arrived at the CDC and we had to get out of our cars and walk from there, There were so many corpses, My god the smell, We hurried up to the gates Rick and Shane were in the front of the group, Glen and T-dog were in between and Daryl and I were in the back all ushering what was left of us in groups. We got to the gates, The sun was setting and it was getting dark, After so much yelling and pounding at the gates, Walkers eventually showed up, and right as we thought hope was lost, A camera in front of the gates moved and Rick pointed it out to everyone. Dale assumed Rick was losing it and Shane tried to drag him away, As Daryl and I were defending the group, firing our arrows, Glen and T-Dog eventually joined in with their bullets, Shane had successfully dragged Rick away until the gates had opened to the CDC. A bright light greeted us, Was like that depictation of heaven you get when you read certain books or watch certain shows and movies, We all ran in, Greeting us was a Scientist named Edwin Jenner. He questioned us what we wanted, With a gun aimed at us. Of course, only natural to come into such a place and for someone to get defensive. After everything that has gone on, If it was me, someone entering my place, and I had a gun, I'd draw it on them, Only to fire if they were going to deliberately attack me. He asked to take our blood and it was the price of admission. I immediately thought _" shit.. fucking needles_.", He then ordered us if we had stuff to take it in do it now, because once the door closes it stays that way.

I thought Maybe this was it, Maybe we'd finally get to stop running..

We packed ourselves into an elevator that seemed to take us underground, we walked through a corridor and reached a big roundish room, Jenner talked the air, asking 'VI' to turn on the lights, So I then assumed 'VI' was a computer, The lights came on, There was no one in the room. The other doctors and staff were all gone. Jenner was completely alone in this, I saw Rick's face slightly pained and disappointed, Expecting there to be more people, Jenner apologized and escorted us to another room.

We all got cozy in one of the offices, He had to take our blood to make sure we were okay I guess, It's just what he said. Man, I fuckin' hate needles. It was my turn to go and get a tube of blood taken, worst part is I was already weak, We weren't able to stop to get to the Food we caught, Sadly the walkers probably had gotten to it by now.

I sat down in the chair so Jenner could take a sample of blood and Daryl saw I was slightly hyperventilating, He walked over to me, I noticed Jenner looked up at me then him and give a somewhat questionable look, "This will only take a second, I swear." He nodded and smiled at me, I felt the needle puncture my skin, My eye began to twitch and I was gripping Daryl's hand trying so very hard not to lose composure or anything, But I failed, Tears fell down my face, I was sniffling, So strange how the Zombie apocalypse was happening and I didn't fear it, But yet something so simple as a needle scared the living hell out of me, And it didn't help how Doctors some how scared me as well. Needles more, It only made it worse if the doctor holding it was kind of crazed looking. My slight Aichmophobia was kind of in a way calming if you thought really deep on it, I was still able to maintain my human-y emotions, Through all of my thinking I didn't realize he was already done taking a sample of my blood, And went onto Daryl,

I tried to get up, and ended up nearly falling over, Daryl caught me before I completely hit the floor, Jenner looked at us worried, I could tell he was scanning my tiny frame, Through all of this. I had barely eaten, I was thinner than I originally was. Being only 97 pounds already, with all of this? I probably lost about 20 more. "Is she okay?" Jenner asked

"She hasn' eaten in days, non of us have'"

I was so tired, and just wanted to sleep, I had barely eaten, Barely slept, Always on the run. I could see the rest of the group through my heavy eyes, looking at me trying to figure out how is it Daryl and I were so close, To them, He was the self absorbed redneck who didn't let anyone into his life, So to them. This sight was really confusing. But to me? He was turning into my hero. Corny as it sounds, It was the truth.

Jenner just looked at us and the rest of the group and once again dragged us away down another corridor.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's note: okay. Uhm. This chapter is where shit gets uhm, Heavy and things get sexual. But there is a warning line before the sexual stuff happens. so. If you don't want to read past that line, just yeah. This is the last chapter for now. All the chapters before this were all pre-written and have been sitting around for a long time. Ive been posting them some place else. But eh. It is. 11/23/12 as I write this note. Chapter 13 is in progress and almost done, so I shall upload that soon. I hope you guys have enjoyed everything so far. I am trying my hardest, I really am. To be honest, Ive never written this much before. Anything on my profile hasn't gotten past 1 chapter, Sadly I am not sure how to even finish them or anything. They are probably just going to sit there. Sorry for that. Well here is the last one for now till I have more written up. Enjoy. And like I said. Everything past that warning line, Is smut.

I could feel myself passing out and the only thing keeping me from completely doing so was Daryl, He was carrying me and he kept talking to me, I was lazily looking around at everything and we seemed to have ended up in a dining hall slash school looking lunchroom.

He set me down in a chair at a table and Jenner began to serve up food and drinks.

My god I could smell the fresh steak in front of me with the side of potatoes and corn, I felt like I was in heaven. Daryl sat down next to me. A smile crept on my face as I stared at my food. We looked at each other with small smiles. It was nice to see him happy. And I don't really think he saw me truly happy, aside from the only two birthday gifts I got, The crossbow from Krista and then the beautiful flower he gave me. I sat there digging into my meal, and Dale passed around some wine, Everyone was talking and laughing. Man, I never thought I'd see something like this. I really did hope we'd stop running finally.

"Would you like some wine, Evy?" Dale offered, I couldn't say no. I raised my glass towards him with a bright smile, "Thank you." I said rocking left and right like a happy child. At the corner of my eye as I was taking a drink I felt Shane glare into me. I ignored it the best I could and continued on with my drinking and being joyful.

Everyone was sitting and chatting. And laughing and just having a great time. It was nice to just watch everyone have fun for once. I sat back in my chair with my hands resting behind my head.

And then I felt Daryl's hand resting on my leg as he sat back in his chair, Relaxed, with his glass of wine in the other. I looked over at him grinning I slipped my hand under the table and did the same. I felt most at peace when I was with him. Strange considering he would get kind of violent, but then again. So would I. He got up reaching for a glass and the bottle of wine. Egging Glenn on to drink some., Rick stood up tapping on a glass with his fork and suggested we had thanked our host, We all raised our glasses to Jenner and thanked him and abruptly Daryl let out a "Booyah!" I face palmed and snickered quietly to myself and thought, "_My god. This man is going to be the death of me..._" and I was perfectly okay with it. I liked him, Even though it had only been a few days, There were just things about him I liked, And strangely he enjoyed my company, I didn't really think he'd enjoy the company of a woman, I guess I was different from the others. My attitude seemed kind of refreshing to him I suppose, but when you think about it, I wasn't like other females, Especially the ones here, I like them, they are nice to me and all but they really did stay true to themselves. Whiny. And I guess that is why Daryl has payed any attention to me, My attitude isn't like theirs, I didn't take shit from people, Daryl witnessed that the few times he caught Shane harassing me, so I guess in a way I was like a guy, just with a pair of tits and other assets. And I never thought in a million years I'd enjoy the presence of a man. No offense. Don't get me wrong I wasn't so into women that I would just swear off men. I just was picky with my men. Same with my women. And at times I did like the cuties and pretty boys. But truthfully, I loved bad boys with a bit of scruff, made it even better when they were sensitive too. It became a major turn on. One that I couldn't help it.

Everyone's Laughter and joy was soon brought to an end, And of course, By the hands of Shane.

"So, when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here doc?" Jenner looked back at Shane, Waiting for his turn to speak as he continued; "All the other doctors that are supposed to be figurin' out what happened. Where are they?" I sat there and my head hung, I knew where this was going. And it wasn't going to be good, Couldn't we just have one day of peace?, I felt Daryl rest his hands on my shoulders, I looked up at him from where I was sitting, I lightly set my hands on his. I looked back at my glass of wine, wondering where all the wine in it went, trying so very hard to drown out Shane's voice by wondering if Daryl has his hands on my shoulders because he wants them there? Or because he thinks he should hold me back from slapping Shane? Daryl and I didn't know each other that well but he knew me well enough to know that Shane disgusted me.

Rick was trying to stop Shane from continuing on, because even HE knew it wasn't the time for this.

"Wait a sec, Isn't this why we're here?, This was your move, Supposed to get answers. 'stead, found him" he said pointing at Jenner " Found one man, Why..?"

Jenner looked at his glass, and replied back

"Well when things got bad, Lotta' people just..Left. Went off to be with their families, And when things got worse, When the military here got overrun,- " As Jenner continued on I Sighed heavily, I wanted really badly to say something but I figured now wasn't the time, I started to tune back into the conversation to Jenner saying how people "Opted out"

"You didn't leave, Why?" Asked Andrea, She hasn't really spoken since the death of her sister.

Jenner looked at Andrea now and said; "I just kept working, Hoping-To do some good.

Glenn got up and walked around the room, kind of drunk, like the rest of us, looked at Shane and said " Dude, You are such a buzz-kill."

We all started to sit up and and Jenner escorted us down another corridor full of rooms complete with showers and hot water, There was a Rec. room with a small library

I stood there in shock. "Did- Did he just say hot water?"

T-dog looked towards us all and smiled, "That's what the man said"

And with that, We all scurried into our own rooms to unpack some things.

Daryl just laid there on the bed in the room we were going to share, We didn't even talk about it either, We just already knew what each other wanted. We knew we were the only people that could really tolerate each other anyways and there wasn't enough rooms to begin with. He laid there on the bed and began to think, Staring at the ceiling,

"I!, am going to take a nice hot shower-" I stopped myself there, My face was going to say things. It probably shouldn't of. He glanced over at me smirking and just continued to stare at the ceiling then got up to snoop around.

It was nice to step into a hot shower, It's been so long since I have felt the hot water attack down at my skin. After I was done and turned the water off, I heard some rustling around outside the bathroom and it sounded like it was coming from my room. I thought to myself _ "Oooh Daryl's back, I should surprise him." _. I stepped out of the steamy room with only a towel and there was Shane instead _ "shit..." _ I thought to myself. I was everything but safe, I was 100% vulnerable. Kind of drunk, and nearly naked.

"Shane. Get out of my room."I said sternly and I could tell he was heavily drunk. He came at me and I tried to dodge but he grabbed me by my shoulders and threw me down on the bed. I was scared shitless at this point.

He crawled on the bed over me and straddled me, pinning me down I tried to scream but all there was just muffles and tiny squeaks. I heard the door open and close shut immediately. It was Daryl, He pried and ripped Shane off of me, I gathered up the sheets to cover up and searched for my towel, Watching the scene before me, Daryl was beating the shit out of Shane. I ran out of the room in a Towel I didn't care. I found Lori in the Rec. Room and told her something was going on and I needed her help, and to get Rick. She called for him who was down the hall, Lori told Carol to stay with the children, I came back into the room and Shane had a black eye growing and a busted nose. Daryl Came up to me and held me tight. Lori was in shock, Her and Daryl were making sure I was okay and then she took me into her arms, and Rick Slightly drunk but not like Shane. Rick still had sense, He still knew right from wrong. He dragged Shane up shutting the door behind him, trying to be quiet as possible so he didn't wake the others or scare the children.

"What the hell are you doing, Shane!?" rick said holding on tight to Shane's shirt collar.

Shane's words were slurred, on account of being heavily drunk and having the sense knocked out of him. Rick dragged him out of the room and into his own, Lori looked down at me and she had fear and anger written all over her face

"Evy, you look at me now, I will take care of this sweety," She then pulled me into a tight embrace and looked and spoke to Daryl "Daryl.." He looked up at her and she continued on. " Thank you- " Like the mother she was, Her instincts kicked in and she knew what was going on with me and Daryl, considering I am always near him, She didn't object or spread it around, but she knew and she noticed things, but she wasn't going to spread it around, It wasn't anyone's business and she knew that as well as I did, The look in her eye changed as she continued on with what she was saying to Daryl; "- You take good care of this young woman now, Ya hear?" He nodded a silent "yes" and then She patted him on the shoulder and looked at us both and apologized for what happened and then headed out of the room and shut the door quietly, Daryl looked down at me and before I could get a word out he put his hands on both sides of my face and he pulled me into a kiss, It was hot and loving, and full of passion, I never expected something like that to come from him. Now I wasn't saying he was incapable of loving me or anyone else, This was just a surprise. Everything that just happened within the past 10 to 15 minutes was just all surprising. A huge shock., He pulled away from the kiss and we were then just searching for air, Our foreheads were against one another.

"I ain't gonna let that fucker' come near ya' again." He pecked my forehead and held onto me tight again. "I'm sorry I left, I should'-" Right there I cut him off, I did NOT want him feeling like shit, So I Leaned up on my tippy toes and kissed him and pulled him down, I held his face and looked him in the eye and said to him; "Hey, No, don't you DARE even try to blame yourself." He still felt guilty and I could see it in his eyes. "It's not your fault, In any way." He looked down at me and looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't say it. I just let it be, I figured there was enough hell and craziness tonight, I didn't want to pry and be annoying, We walked over to the bed to lay there. Not sure if any of us would sleep yet. It was still pretty early, At least it felt it, we really weren't sure, there was no clocks around. We just laid there and he looked over at me grinning

"What?" I stared at him confused

"Yer still in tha' towel there." trying to change the subject the best he could, I could tell, he didn't want to think about what just happened, because if he did? He'd probably go after Shane and things would be worse then.

I looked down and remembered and went "OH. Right. Okay. Uhm. Clothes. Must find them." I got off the bed looking around for my clothes laughing to myself because of how forgetful I am. I stood up looking around, I turned around and something flew at my face, " What the-, What?" I took it off my face and looked at it "Oh, underwear, Hey wait. This isn't a shirt." He flung another piece of clothing at me, Pulled it off my face and it was one of his shirts. " Is there some reason you are giving me one of your shirts?, Not that it is a problem-" I said as I walked up closer to him and swung the shirt left and right in front of his face continuing on- "Just curious" I smirked. He looked down at me his face was flushing with a bit of red, It was amusing when he did that, Because to me? He was a hard-ass, who didn't give a shit. And yet, One tiny little girl broke him down, I still wanted to know, What was so special about me? What did I have that the other women didn't? I could understand if it was just my ability to apply common sense when talking, but What else aside what I already know.

"Im tired."I stood there in confusion with his reply, "Tired of?" I knew he wanted to finish that sentence. "Tired of everyone lookin' at ya'. 'specially Shane. He does it again I might beat his ass again, be worse next time.

I chuckled at the thought of Shane getting beat up again.

"So. Basically, you are trying to make it known that I am your "Property"? "

I could see the look in Daryl's eyes, It was written on his face, He thought I was going to get upset with him for insinuating such a thing as being his "property" because most women don't like that shit and are always like _"I am __no one's__ property!" _this was quite an amusing situation, It was so strange to see Daryl like this. I looked at him with a huge grin and gave my honest response "Okay." and he stood there confused, I slipped on the underwear under the towel, turned around with my back facing him. Didn't care if he turned around or not, Threw a bra on and just slipped his shirt on like a vest, It was another button up sleeveless one. Didn't really give a shit to button it up either. Just left it open. He was still standing there unsure of what to say so I filled the air with my voice once again "I am not like all the other wretched females on this god forsaken planet, No offense, that get pissed off about that kind of thing. Or anything. It makes me feel protected. But that is only because it's with someone that I like. Now if it was Shane saying this shit, Or worse, Never saying it, and just insinuating it, I'd get pissed and want to beat the shit out of him too." I grabbed him by his shirt and made him lay down, told him he needed some rest. He didn't try to fight it. We laid there in silence for a bit and after a couple of minutes he sat up and I asked him "what are you doing?" as I was asking he was peeling off his shirt. I could see different sizes of scars on his back and I could see his tattoo better, being closer and all, I sat up next to him and leaned my head on his shoulder and just randomly spoke out; "welp. Guess I don't need mine then." I took off the shirt I was only wearing as a vest and just decided to drape it over my head, and picturing myself in such a state, Made me laugh a little. I was only in boy-shorts and a bra, with a shirt on my head, I looked ridiculous. He looked down at me and chuckled " yer crazy."

I looked up at him and said " I know."

That was me, I just didn't care what anyone thought of me, I didn't care about the fact I was pretty much naked at the moment if it wasn't for the under-clothing, I just didn't care, I just wanted to live and that is what I was doing. And I saw it as a huge privilege to be with Daryl, and only I would know when he was like this, calm, and at peace, he had to be a hard-ass around everyone else so they understood he doesn't take shit from people, If he was squishy out there like he is with me, They'd walk all over him in two seconds. I know that as well as he does. I rather they are intimidated by Daryl, but I also rather they don't judge a book by it's cover, He really is a nice guy once you get to know him, Or maybe it really is just only me that he likes, Regardless. Rick and Lori saw a side of him no one else has but me, as Rick was dragging Shane out of the room from the fight earlier I could hear him saying to Shane he deserved getting the shit beat out of him. And with those thoughts I laid down with Daryl and laid my head on his chest and just hearing his heart beat was calming. It put me at ease, It was a nice human-y moment. All I would hear was the snarling and growling of the undead, It was nice to hear something else for a change, And with that I fell asleep

We got up that morning or whatever time it was,

Sadly I had to put clothes on. I wasn't really keen on them in the morning or just waking up. I looked over and noticed Daryl was missing but I heard the shower turn on, I was curious So I knocked on the door, Being still squishy with my emotions, I never been physically close to men when they were in such a state as him, He opened the door in only a towel, It's like he knew that would catch me off guard.

I stood there, My face flushed to red just like it did when we were in the quarry and in his tent and he was changing only his shirt and he caught me, And to think, that was only a day and a half ago, but this time seemed worse. I mean it was, considering all he had to do was unhook the towel around his waist that was just, Dangerously low as is, begging to be torn off, but I had to admit I was like an embarrassed sixteen year old who just walked in on their crush changing. Even though I was a twenty year old woman I was very squishy, and very embarrassed.

"H-hello?"I was quiet and tiny as I looked up at him and all he did was stand there and grin. And it wasn't just any grin. Oh no. nope. It was a purely devilish one, before I could get another word out he dragged me into the bathroom with him and pulled me into a kiss and pushed me up against the wall. At this point I knew something was going to happen, I couldn't get out of this in any way shape or form, Not that I really wanted to anyways. So as per usual I give into myself and indulge

**(*****Points at you* If you are twelve. Skip this chapter now. Everything below this line is smut)**

So as per usual I give into myself and indulge in the moment. Mentally I said fuck it and flipped a desk and as much as I hated the phrase, I used it "_yolo"_ because now? Yeah, It did kind of apply, You do only live once, I'm not saying you should do lines and scream "yolo"when you're done, No. Say yolo once and do that one thing you are one hundred percent sure of in your life, and make it good, catch the opportunity before it's long gone, and to me, That is just what I was doing,

He pulled away from the kiss to find air. As did I. I snaked my hands down his chest, to his stomach to his towel and yanked it off, I grinned a naughty cheshire grin, holding the towel up and simply said "Oopsie" he looked at me raising a brow and did the same to me with my underwear, cept, he more like ripped them off instead of just pulling them down "hey! Those where my favorite."and did the same to me grinned and said "Oops" as he was dropping the remains to the floor I took the shirt off and he was about to reach for the bra when I instead caught his hands. Nope. You. Do not rip my bras, that is a no no. I like my bras."he just chuckled at me muttering something to me along the lines of "brat"

I unhooked it and he began to get really impatient now, Something just changed in his eyes almost instantly. He pressed me up against the wall completely so I had no place to move at all, he took my legs and wrapped them around his waist and kept me propped up against the wall and our lips crashed again, This time it was rough and hot, He held on tight to my tiny waist and moved us into the hot shower and immediately put me up against the wall again. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me into another kiss and trailed kisses and bites down to my neck I couldn't help but moan as he touched my sweet spot, I snaked my hand to his hair and gripped on it, Earning a little growl,

He held onto my waist tight he looked me in the eyes, "I'll be gentile-" He leaned in whispering into my ear "- Fer now." His voice sent shivers up my spine and with that, my hand still on the back of his head and my arm still wrapped around his neck, He gave me a peck on the cheek and entered in slowly, thrusting in and out slowly and carefully at first to let me adjust to him, I buried my face in his neck trying to muffle the moans, I wasn't sure who was awake and asleep, I didn't want to make too much noise, but Daryl made quick work of ruining the quietness, he started to dig his nails into my hips and his grip got rougher as he thrusted in faster and harder, My head fell back and hit against the shower wall behind me and I started to moan louder as I began to rock my hips back and forth to meet his thrusts, I had sex once. And it was not like this. Sadly it was expected because who I was with at the time, he was a virgin, Not a man.

I couldn't contain the moans flying out of my mouth. I gripped onto his hair and I tried to snake my other hand down but Daryl caught it and pinned it above my head and did the same with my other hand, and his thrusts became rougher, And I couldn't control the noise, It's like he wanted everyone to know what was going on, And with him pinning me up the way he was, It was pleasure and torture all at the same time. I couldn't grip onto anything and brace myself at all and things just felt more intense to me like this.

I couldn't take it anymore, I started to breathe heavy under the pressure, I couldn't contain it much longer. I moaned, nearly screamed out his name as I came, and he followed shortly after a few more thrusts, our breaths were ragged and heavy, I collapsed into him, my body still slightly spasming from the intense orgasm. Still holding onto me tight to make sure I didn't fall because I was losing my grip off of him.

After we headed out of the shower he stayed close to me, followed me around in places, was expected considering what happened last night. But I was too busy thinking about things to really pay too much mind to it. I was curious what just happened, was it heat of the moment? Love? Lust? What did I get myself into just now? And by how loud I got. I'm sure someone must have heard us. I got dressed, back into his shirt and my pair of jean short shorts, as I bent over to get my boots on I felt a hand hit my ass, I turned to Daryl, "Did you just- Just slap my ass?"He just stood there, grinning, he shrugged and walked off, well. Tried to considering I tackled him to the bed. I straddled him down and pinned his hands down on each side of his head. He was somewhat surprised but mostly amused by my wrestling with him. Grinning and amused at the sight of a shirtless Daryl under me ,I leaned down to hover over him and I gave him a sweet short kiss, which then turned into long kiss, I let go of his hands only to prop myself up better, His hands roamed everywhere on me from my chest to my back all the way down to my ass, being a cheeky bastard all of a sudden I felt him undo my shorts and slide his hand down them, He acknowledged how wet I was and it made him grin, Sliding a finger in and back out slowly to tease me, "jerk." I said to him starting to moan again, It was torture, A slow, evil, unbearable torture, Just that one finger grinding in and out slowly as possible. Getting aggravated I undid his pants and slipped them down just enough to slide my hand down his pants, he looked me dead in the eye and called me a bitch, I couldn't help but smirk, I began pumping him slowly, teasingly just as he was doing to me with that one evil finger, He let out a satisfied moan and never breaking eye contact he stuck in another finger and went faster, I let out a gasp and shut my eyes at the feeling, I couldn't take it anymore, I begged him to fuck me. And I bet that is just what he wanted me to do too. Beg.

He obliged to my request by slipping out his fingers, I let go of him, he rolled us over so he was on top, He yanked my shorts off with an attitude "This shits in ma' way , girl." he said, throwing them across the room, amused. He was kneeling in front of me on the bed, He grabbed me by my thighs and roughly pulled me to him, He leaned down, hovering over me, and without warning he entered me, roughly.

Everything was different about this time compared to the shower earlier, It was nothing but rough and dirty.

He lifted a leg and put it over his waist, He used one hand to prop himself up above me and his other hand to hold my other leg, Keeping a firm grip on it as he pounded into me, Moans escaping again. There was no water this time to buffer out any noise. We were in complete silence, Not once did we feel bad for the children, Even though Carol, Lori and Rick might be a little displeased with us. We didn't care at the moment..

I threw my hands above my head to grip the headboard as he was attacking my body, trying to contain the moans, but once again I fail, It's like Daryl knew when I was trying to hold back. He wrecked the silence by giving my body one hard thrust, Earning a loud moan, near pleasure filled scream as I said his name, He let go of my leg, sliding his hands up to my hip and clutched onto it as I rocked under him to meet his thrusts. He became confused for a few moments when I used all my force to push him off, Only to sit on top of him this time, I took off the shirt and damn near ripped off my bra, He stopped being confused and got the picture, I didn't realize how much he filled me up till I was on top being impaled by him. I bounced up and down on him fast and rough to keep up with the pace he went into when he was on top, He seemed to like taking control of things, He pulled me down a bit and leaned up to me, Our lips had crashed together again for a few moments till he crashed back down dragging his hands down to my breasts giving them a rough squeeze before sliding his hands down further gripping onto my hips hard as he thrusted up into me, I threw my head back, moaning out all sorts of things, His name, and obscenities, I couldn't take it much longer, I came and collapsed on him, He grabbed my ass roughly and kept me down on him as he came.

"Devil woman" He murmured into my ear, I giggled a bit at the comment as I kissed his neck.

I rolled over off him and we just laid there till he blurted out "I want me sum' food."

I couldn't help but smile and laugh a little, Tired as I was, I dragged myself up to get dressed, I could use some food too.. Even with the apocalypse we could still be human at times. And that is what made me want to continue on, I wanted to fight for something better.


	13. Chapter 13

I opened the door and peeked my head out. All the doors seemed to be open, and they seemed to be missing. I walked out and I immediately smelled the eggs.

"Dear god someone made food. Lets go." I said practically dragging Daryl along. We entered the dining hall and everyone decided to just randomly cheer and I thought to myself _"shit."_

"Oh my god. No. you did not-" T-dog cut me off, "-Yes, we did." he stood there chuckling and offered me the eggs he made. Daryl couldn't help himself, He had to take a drink of the wine from last night to hide the amused look on his face. Sophia and Carl never looked so confused in their entire life, I guess they didn't hear us then. "What does T-dog mean mommy?" Sophia asked her mom, Carol trying to contain her laughter " I'll tell you when you're older sweety."

"Did Daryl and Ev-" Lori cut Carl off before he finished the sentence, apologizing to me, she shook her head by what Carl almost said, And Rick trying to hold back laughter.

Glenn moaning in disgust " please. Don't ever. Ever. Ever. Let me drink again." Seems like he had a mighty hangover.

I saw Shane hiding in away from everyone else. He wasn't at the table, but he was still there, He looked furious and disgusted. I guess everyone talked about what happened, Carl and Sophia didn't find out thankfully and his black eye only seemed a tad bruised around the eye and not completely black. I felt Daryl's arm wrap around my waist as I stood there eating my pancakes and eggs, Offering Daryl a pancake he happily took one off my plate.

Jenner walked in and we greeted him and Dale spoke out to him "I don't mean to slam you with questions-" "But you will anyways" Jenner cut him off in mid sentence pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Andrea adding onto it. Bombarding him with questions. Everyone put their forks and such down and cleaned up before following Jenner, With my plate still full of food in hand I said fuck it and took it with.

We entered the big room again with the huge screen and computers everywhere.

Jenner spoke out to VI "Give me a playback of TS-19."

The big screen lit up a bit, loading something on it, and it spoke back repeating what he asked for "TS-19"

"only very few people got to see this" Jenner said, turning to all of us as we made our way around to see the screen. It looked to be a recording of a brain scan,and a human model with it. Then It dawned on me what the "TS" stood for, It meant "Test Subject". Carl spoke up confused "Is that a brain?"

"An extraordinary one-" he said as he turned to Carl, then looking back at the screen "-Not that it matters in the end." Jenner asked VI to take us closer into the scan. An "Internal View" It said.

. Taking us deeper into the virtual brain, It was so amazing getting to see this, I felt so privileged. I walked back a bit and I set my plate down to the side in an empty chair. I returned over to Daryl where he slipped his arm around my waist again.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked

"It's a person's life, Experiences, Memories, It's everything- He said turning to all of us then back at the screen"-Somewhere in all of that organic wiring, all those...Ripples of light. Is you. The things that make you unique and human." as he was speaking I felt Daryl's hand touch mine and hold it, I looked up at him sweetly before leaning my head on his shoulder.

Shane getting annoyed. "Are you going to make any sense yet?" I felt myself heat up at his stupidity, It made my eye twitch. "Those are synapses,-" Jenner continued. "-Electric pulses in the brain that can carry all the messages, They determine everything a person says, does or thinks from the moment of birth, to the moment of death." Rick walking up to Jenner questioning it curiously

"This person died?" Andrea asked walking up closer to the screen finishing her sentence with "Who?"

Jenner never breaking away from the screen, explaining it to her "Test Subject 19, someone who was...Bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process... VI, Scan forward to the first event."

"Scanning to first event." It spoke.

I walked closer to the screen, Looked back at Daryl who then followed along. I Found his hand and held onto it. I didn't want him to go anywhere. The atmosphere in the room just felt like it changed and I felt un-easy.

The virus changed the way the brain stem looked. It was now dark, instead of bright and colored.

"What is that?" I asked, Jenner turning towards me pointing at it "It invades the brain like meningitis." As he continued on explaining it to me, I felt kind of sickened. Not like I wanted to throw up more like, I just wanted to keep asking how, just how could something like this happen, and why?

"It invades parts of the brain, causing a hemorrhage, making it shut down, along with the major organs...Then death, Everything you ever were or ever will be. Is gone." I felt my self tensing up, I wrapped my arm around Daryl's waist and kept him close to me.

Sophia's little voice spoke up and asked if that is what happened to Jim, and Carol replied with a "yes". She didn't want to lie to her daughter. There was no use in it, it would have been a dumb move.

Andrea forcing herself not to break into tears, "She lost somebody two days ago, her sister", Lori said, Jenner moved to Andrea looking down at her "I lost somebody too, I know how devastating it is."

Jenner looked back up and moved toward the screen again "Scan to the second event." he asked VI and it did just as it was told. "The resurrection times are very wild, We have some reports of them happening in as little as three minutes the longest we've heard of is eight hours, in the case of this patent. It was two hours, One minute...Seven seconds."

The same lights were pulsing through it again, but the stem was still very dark.

"It restarts the brain? Lori asked. "No, Just the brain stem, Basically it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive." Rick said adding in. "You tell me" Jenner said motioning his hand out to the screen.

It was nothing like before, most of the brain was Dark and lifeless...Dead.

The human part of the brain doesn't come back anymore, The you in the brain, is completely gone. Anyone who was infected like so and turned would just be a shell, a mindless being. The screen showed us a bullet going through the test subject. Then Jenner asked VI to power down the screen and all the work stations.

"You have no idea what it is do you?" Andrea said, Jenner not really sure what to say besides giving suggestions to what it is. Microbial, or Viral he stated, Tossing in Parasitic as well with fungal.

Jacqui speaking up, "Or the wrath of God?". Jenner turning around. In response he said "There is that." in a kind of sarcastic tone it seemed.

Andrea begging to know if someone knew anything. And Carol was curious if there were other facilities like this one.. but Sadly he was really unsure, he said there could be, but it didn't mean there was, This man was lost alone for a month in this. Basically insinuating that yes. It is global. It wasn't just here. I felt my heart sink, I wanted to just pass out at that point, The food didn't want to stay down anymore, thankfully Daryl caught me and guided me to a nearby chair. I could tell this day was just going to go down-hill from here. And seeing the defeated look in Rick's face just nearly set it in stone.

"I need to get shitfaced right now" I randomly blurted out, didn't care who heard me either. Daryl muttering in agreement he would like to follow with that notion.

Dale noticed what seemed to be a clock off in the distance. He asked Jenner what it was and why of all things. Why was it counting down? And what happens when it reaches zero

"The-" Pausing for a moment, seemed he was trying to lie. "-Basement generators run out of fuel."

Rick being a cop, he knew something was off about that. So he had to ask "VI, What happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, the facility's decontamination will occur." VI replied.

T-dog, Rick, Glenn and Shane went to the basement to check the fuel on the generators. I looked up at Daryl with pain in my face. "Daryl. I think we should go."

he looked down at me curiously. "Go where?"

"Our room...I think we should pack up."

"What, Why?" My hand grabbed onto his shirt and I sternly replied. "Just. Now. Lets go. something isn't right about all of this. I think we should be ready for anything right now."

he thought about it for a moment and agreed we hustled out with the rest of the people. I told Lori to keep an eye out for things and help Carol watch the kids.

I frantically found all my things and packed up quick as possible. Few moments after I got some of my things packed up. The cool air stopped flowing into the room. I looked up and thought _"Shit" _

Daryl already had his things packed up all on the bed ready to go and so did I. Right as I was going to open the door I turned to Daryl and I couldn't help but smirk at him, He was stealing the whiskey Jenner had in the cabinets in our room.

Right as I was going to reach for the door the lights went out and smaller ones came on. Only enough to guide us out, everyone questioning why the lights were going down. Daryl was getting pissed at Jenner. Yelling at him why he wasn't responding to him. I felt Daryl grab my hand tightly as Jenner explained that France was the longest to hold out next to them whilst everyone else was committing suicide in hallways. Andrea asked what happened and Jenner said "Same thing that's happening now. Ran out of juice." He seemed to be losing a bit of his mind, now somewhat rambling "The world runs on fossil fuel. How stupid is that?"

Shane wanted to go after him to beat the shit out of him, Rick stopped him and told everyone to get their things.

The screen turned on , Sirens blared and VI spoke up. "Thirty minutes to decontamination." Rick tried to rush them to get their things and they stopped right in their tracks as the door closed down on us, Locking us all in. I couldn't stop Daryl from what he was about to do. For two reasons. One. He was too strong. Two. I didn't want to stop him., He charged at Jenner, ready to beat his head in with the bottle of whiskey

"It's better this way." Jenner said, Rick walking upto him, "What is? What happens in twenty-eight minutes!?" Rick was afraid for us, his family,

Jenner stood up shouting at him and all of us. "Do you know what this place is!? We protected the public, From **Very. Nasty. Stuff!.** Weaponised smallpox! Ebola strays that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out!. **Ever!.**" Everyone stood there still and in shock. Horrified. Jenner Explained in the event of a catastrophic power failure for example or a terrorist attack. HIT's are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out. Rick looked at Jenner questioning the HIT's, Then Jenner asked VI to explain. It spoke up explaining what HIT's were, They would basically ignite the whole inside of the facility, in other words. Combustion.

Hearing these words. I wanted to just crash down and cry, But I knew it wasn't the time for this.

I hid my face into Daryl's chest, clinging to his shirt, I couldn't stop the tears. He held onto me tight, he pulled me off of him for a moment with an odd emotion in his eyes, Something I didn't think I'd see, The look of promise.

Daryl looked down at me, gave me a heated kiss. Looked me in the eyes and said "I'll get us outta this. I promise."

I watched him and Shane go at the metal door with the emergency axes. Sadly unable to break it but Daryl not wanting to give up just yet, Jenner spoke out and said the doors are able to withstand a rocket launcher, Daryl had enough, He charged at the man out of frustration "Well yer head ain't!" Took nearly 4 men to stop him. That's Daryl for ya. And that is what I liked about him.

Jenner revealing something to us Rick said when he was drunk, That he was losing hope. And it startled a few people. Andrea speaking up to him "What part of everything's gone, don't you understand.." I got pissed and walked up to her, There were things left, **I** saw hope. **I** wanted to keep fighting. This is **not** how I wanted to go down. "Listen, Andrea, Just because **you** hate everything right now, Doesn't mean we all have to, just because you want to kill yourself doesn't mean we all have to. Look, I'm sorry for your loss, I truly am, Trust me I get how it feels to lose someone, You can't even begin to understand the shit I've had to go through before all this shit started, Everyone is going through tough shit, We've all lost someone, I'm not gonna bend my ass over for you just because you're upset, I'm trying to be nice and I'm trying to be human about it, But you are making it harder for me to be sorry for you when you are going to open your mouth, like some uppity bitch, like you know something, Like you're the only one going through shit. You wanna kill yourself, go right ahead, no one's stoppin' ya, but **I **want to live, **I **want to keep going. I'm not done on this god-forsaken planet yet." She sank down into her self on the floor with her head down, I walked around looking for vents, ways out. I wasn't going to die like this.

I turned my head to the side of a shotgun cocking, Shane was charging at Jenner with it. Rick trying to talk some sense into him, Trying to make him stop, out of frustration, Shane fired the gun at a few random empty work stations, Rick charged at Shane, hitting him with the butt of the gun, making him fall down, he had to stop himself from hitting him again. Daryl walked up to Jenner in a huff.

"You open tha' god damn doors,**now.**"

I walked over to Daryl, dragging him back before he beat the crap out of Jenner too. Making him help me look for ways to get out of here, Because at the moment, I really wasn't sure those doors were gonna open so I needed more eyes to help me look around for ways to get out. I wasn't going to sit back and be useless.

Rick stood there, trying to talk some sense into Jenner, to get him to open the doors. Finding out "TS-19" was his wife, and if she hadn't of died. We wouldn't be in this mess.

I watched Daryl grab the axe and charge at the door again. I said fuck it and followed, I took the other axe and went at the door with him. I heard Rick and Jenner talking, I didn't pay attention though. My main priority was this damn door.

I was about to strike at it again and the door rolled down, Daryl grabbed my hand and we ran, Ran as fast as we could with the others behind us. We grabbed our things and continued on.

We entered the main hall, there was once again. No way out, Rick said he couldn't open these doors, Daryl, Rick and I tried breaking the windows, T-dog went at it with a chair, none of us successfully breaking it, only scratching it. Shane walked up to it with his shotgun, blasting it and failing, Daryl frantically pacing, looking for things to use against it, It was kind of unsettling seeing him panic.

Carol walked up to rick and started to dig around in her purse "Rick!, I have something that might work-" "I don't think a nail files gonna work, Carol" Shane spat out, I threw him a death glare, I was tired of his shit already, trying to hold back from punching him or fighting with him, I stomped off looking around for things to help break the window. "I found this while I was doing your laundry, it was in your pocket", Carol pulled out a little grenade from her purse.

Rick ran to the window, setting it down, and running back to find cover.

It blew up the window, I never had been so happy to smell the dead air.

We all ran out and past the dead, there were walkers in the way, running and hitting them along the way, one was coming at me, I wasn't in the mood to deal with this shit, I grabbed the metal bat and swung it hard as I could, It's head was nearly coming off as is, I just knocked it out of the field, a smile full of satisfaction grew upon my lips as it literally flew off and away, the body was still standing, I kicked it down and ran off. Looking back I didn't see Jacqui, Dale, or Andrea.

We got into our cars about to talk off and We saw Dale an Andrea making a run for it., the place was ready to blow, we could see the fire, Dale and Andrea hide behind things for cover, I soon felt myself being pushed down against the seat, realizing what was going on, Daryl was covering me from any debris that might fling it's way in our direction.

After Dale and Andrea hustled into the RV, we all drove off.

At that point, I'm not sure what it was that I was feeling, Relief? Fear maybe? Anger?, depression? But whatever it was that I was feeling all flew away in a matter of moments when Daryl grabbed my hand, I scooted over just enough for me to lay down, I laid my head on his lap and he set his hand on my shoulder with his other on the wheel as we drove off, I'd say it was perfect timing for a nap.


	14. Chapter 14

I woke up to what seemed to be the afternoon, we were making a pit stop, getting whatever gas we could from the abandoned cars. Daryl leaned in, crossing his arms and resting them on the open window of the truck. "Truck is busted." I looked at him unsure of what to say really besides ; "So what do we do?"

"Well. We can take tha' bike, all our stuff's gonna' have ta' go into the RV."

I looked at him smirking "So that is what hides back there." Daryl never did tell me what that lump covered in tarp was that was in the back.

I sat up all the way, looking around, Seems we stopped near a small store, Said it had a pharmacy too.

"Hey, Daryl, I'm gonna head into the store, see if I can find a few things."

"Alrigh'." he leaned in giving me a quick kiss before I headed off.

I walked off into the store, empty as fuck, but at least there were no walkers, just to be safe I checked all the backrooms in case they didn't, Not a walker in sight,.

I roamed around unable to find what I was looking for because things were so jumbled here, I stood at the door calling for Lori till she walked over "Hey, what is it?"

"Uhm, I kind of need some help, looking for some uhm. Personal things, and-" She stood there smiling at me leading me in.

"I need you to help me find some uhm. Birth control, Every time I had the chance, Id run to find some at stops me and Krista had made, I'm sure I have a shit ton already but, Can never bee to careful ya know?."

She looked down, smiling, "Well. Never thought I'd ever have a moment like this. Considering I have a son, It's kind of, well a lot of Rick's business to deal with that kind of stuff. Rick and I made a deal if we ever had another kid and it was a female, I'd handle all the dirty work." I laughed lightly and went back to searching.

After wandering around I had eventually stumbled around to what I needed, enough of it too, I looked around some more and accidentally wandered into the baby isle.

"Never thought Daryl was the "I want kids" type." Lori said poking around at all the baby things.

"Well. It's a bit soon for that. Not sure how long either of us will last, Regardless of a zombie apocalypse, Not trying to be a downer either, Just thinking logically, and to clear things up, It's me thats like that. I want kids, just like two would be nice. If I popped out more then cool, I just would like to have money before I do such a thing. Just kind of, I dunno, poking around I guess, Seeing all this makes me remember when I thought about having kids with some famous guy, it's what my mom wanted. Me to marry someone rich." Lori put her arm around me for comfort. Little did I know Daryl was eaves dropping in on the whole conversation from when I started looking at the baby things.

I looked at Lori continuing on. "To be honest, I was never into the Idea, I mean yeah marrying a rich guy sounds cool and all, but its like a cheat code at life, I never understand why women want to do that, Like are you so lazy you can't make your own money or something?, No offense. Besides. I prefer the bad boys." She looked at me laughing lightly and smiling "Well seems like Daryl is your guy then, I'm still upset about what happened to you, I had a talk with Shane. I told him he goes near you again like that, I'll let Daryl make a mess of him." I laughed at her statement agreeing I would let him make a mess of Shane too.

I grabbed a few other things and headed out of the store, I slipped the things into my bag of personal belongings and handed it back to Dale so he could load it back up into the RV, I walked over to Daryl strapping his crossbow to the back of the bike, noting there was only enough for one bow, I didn't mind, I'd carry mine around behind me, I rather liked it, It made me feel like a badass.

I looked up at Daryl, The look in his face changed from what it normally is to what I see now, He seemed at ease and calm, but also anxious and curious at the same time, "Is it true?"

I became confused what he meant by that, "Is what true?"

"What you said ta' Lori"

I stood there and my face flushed to a deep red and my eyes grew wide with surprise. "Were you spying on me Mr Dixon?" I said to him poking at a button on his shirt

"Maybe..".

I kissed him on the cheek and stood there smiling and just said nothing, wondering if he could figure it out himself, He threw a vest on, One I had never seen, It was black, and it had angel wings on the back of it, I couldn't help but smile at it. He sat on the bike and I climbed on behind him, wrapping my arms around him and we drove off again, I noticed we were leading the line, It made me feel special.

As we were driving I laid my head against his back, He felt warm and I could hear his heart beat from the back, It was calming. Something so little was able to put me at ease. I loved it.

"Daryl?"

"yea?"

"To answer your question, It's true." I said as I tighting my grip on him, Pretty much hugging him from behind, He set his hand on my thigh, resting it there, giving it a reassuring squeeze before he put his hand back on the handle bar. "By the way, Darlin', Thought it was pretty hot tha' way ya' cussed off Andrea.". I giggled a bit and leaned up a bit and kissed his shoulder, admiring the vest as well.

As we were driving off we had hit a highway, full of cars, I looked back to Dale slowing down, as were the rest of them, I noted to Daryl what was going on so he could drive up a bit further to see if there was enough space for the RV before we had to start pushing cars out of the way, I knew we would have to at some point.

We turned back around to let the others know there was a way, it was just going to be a tight fit. We drove back up ahead of them and continued on.

We didn't get too far, I heard the RV sputtering and screeching so we had to stop for now.

"I said it, Didn't I say it? a thousand times, Dead in the water." Dale noted, complaining about the RV.

"Problem Dale?" Shane said stepping up.

"Yeah, Only a small matter of being stuck in the middle of no where, With no hope of-" He said turning around looking at all the abandoned cars, Dawning on him he could just take pieces from them. "- Okay, that was dumb". He finished, looking around at all the cars still.

"Can't find a radiator hose here." I wasn't sure if That was sarcasm Shane spit out. I was hoping it wasn't so I could beat whatever stupid was left in him, out.

'Whole buncha' stuff we could find." Daryl said as he was digging around in a car, pulling out a pink backpack, I looked at him curiously. " Hey, Let me get that." He looked at me puzzled. "pff, Never thought'd you'd want a prissy pink backpack." he said grinning "Oh shut up, It's not for me." I said chuckling at him, I took the backpack from him and handed it over to Sophia "Hey there." I said to her, She only smiled at me, taking the offering I gave to her, She was so sweet and adorable, so shy too. Reminded me of myself when I was little. "Thank you Miss" Sophia's voice was so tiny and fragile, "Aww, You can call me Evy, Dear." I gave her a small hug and smiled at Carol, She thanked me for giving her daughter the backpack.

"We could also get some more fuel from these cars, Maybe some water too, Food as well." I stated

"This is a graveyard, I don't know how I feel about this." I turned to Lori giving her a sympathetic look, I felt sorry for her because she didn't want to do this, but we all knew we had to. It was dangerous to some degree, But we had to do what we had to do.

I dug around and found another backpack, I gave it to Carl so him and Sophia could help look for things. We all spread out into seperate groups searching., I stumbled upon some bags and just scooped up what I could find into them. I looked around for Daryl, Just so I could see where he was, he was doing the same as I was. Digging around. I found it odd when I saw him swipe something Red, I furrowed my brows and squinted my eyes _"What is that man doing...?" _ I thought to myself.

I shook the thoughts away and went back to digging around.

Walking along the cars I stumbled into Daryl, Our back hit each against one another "Shit!- oh. God that was startling, I am so sorry." He looked down at me chuckling. "This is madness. There are so many things here-" my sentence was cut short when I noticed something shining at the side of my eye. I turned towards the car and dug around in it, I saw so many geeky nerdy things, It only made me miss my normal life, There was things from all sorts of sci-fi- shows I used to watch. Who ever this was, He or She was pretty awesome, So many figurines, I wanted to cry, If this was a normal moment in my life, and all these things were handed to me, I would have just cried endlessly, There were things from Doctor who, Supernatural, Batman, Oddly though I didn't care as much anymore when I finally dug out that shiny thing, Daryl seemed puzzled and amused by my excitement. "What?, Never seen a girl raid through toys before?"

"Pff, Only lil ones" he said smirking

"Hey, These are awesome things.

"Eh, I wouldn' know, I never had a TV, Or toys, We had a TV,but I was never allowed at it."

"Oh. Im sorry" I looked at the floor, I felt a little guilty and he could tell

"Hey, Don' feel bad, I got one thing outta' all this mess at least." I looked at him curiously, and asked "Whats that?" he smirked at me, and answered "you.", I leaned up and kissed his cheek.

" you know, Daryl, someone is going to catch us one day. More importantly you, Being all mushy."

"well I'll just have ta' kill em then.". I laughed lightly shaking my head. Continuing to dig at what I wanted. I pulled it out and it was probably the best thing ever.

"Oh—Oh my god, I think, I think I might cry," I pulled out a sword, long, wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be. "This guy, who ever this was, I'm sorry they died but Thankful for their belongings."

He looked at the blade, noticing how sharp it was made him grin little, He was quite amused by the fact a girl was nearly creaming herself over a blade, or any weapon in general, He never knew any girls like me.

The fun of digging around was cut short by Rick telling us to get under the cars, If it was one walker, it could have been taking care of easily. But there was a Horde.

I scurried under the car I was digging in, I looked around, Daryl went off hiding someplace, giving me a "I'll be back look" If it wasn't for the fact of there being a lot, If there was only like five, I could have taken them out, but there was just too many for me to deal with, If I tried it, we would have all been dead in seconds, if not all at least some.

The pavement was burning hot. Laying against it I thought my skin was going to catch fire. I couldn't wait for them to pass, As I was laying under the car, I noticed T-Dog stumbling along, blood dripping. He must have gotten hurt, I was about to climb out and help but Daryl beat me too it. Like a hunter he was peeking around from a car, He charged up to a nearby walker that was trying to get to T-Dog, He stabbed it in the back of the head with a screwdriver. To prevent any other walkers from getting to them, He dragged T-dog onto his back and laid the walker he had just killed on top of him, The dead can't sniff you out if you smell like one of them, shortly after Daryl did the same. I watched the whole scene before me, I couldn't believe what was happening.

After a bit, the horde finally passed, we all got out from under the cars, Daryl was helping T-dog with his wound, I went to tell someone about it but before I could, another disaster was unfolding before me, Two walkers, wanderers, No body saw them till Sophia was whining and running from them.

Carol not being able to contain herself, almost ran after her but it was too late, Sophia was already deep into the woods to go into without a weapon, Rick darted after the two and Sophia.

I had enough waiting, I jumped over the railing of the highway and darted into the woods, I could hear Daryl calling out to me, He nearly caught me before I ran, I called out to him as I was running "Nope!"

I ran fast and hard through the woods, I saw the walkers going after rick now, Sophia was no where in sight. Rick took care of one walker, I drew my new found sword upon the undead bastard, He didn't see me so this just made it easier for me. I swung the sword at it, One clean cut and his head was off,

Rick turned around in a panic "Where is she?, Did you see Sophia?" "I didn't, I'm sorry Rick."

"Come on, Evy, We gotta go look for her."

We ran back where she was and where Rick told her to run, She was no where, We both ran back to the group, We took Daryl, Glenn and Shane tagged along, We didn't even ask, He just followed.

Daryl followed her trail along with the rest of us, Shane was skeptical the whole time, As if there wasn't even a trail, I will never understand how he became a cop.

After a while of searching, we found nothing but her trail stopping and veering off, Suspecting she was spooked away.

We Split up at that point Glenn and Shane were going back, I turned to Daryl; "Hey, I'm gonna go back and stay with Carol." he nodded to me and gave Shane a warning glare before we walked off, I stayed close to Glenn, It's not like he'd object, He already knew what happened to me, and because of it everyone was on edge about it and kept an eye on Shane, Glenn started to slow down a bit, he grabbed my wrist to have me keep up with his pace, Shane not really caring why we were dragging, Yet anyways.

Glenn and I really didn't talk much, But I knew it was because he was a shy little fellow, He was nice too. "Hey, uhm, Evy."

"Hey, whats up?"

"I'm sorry about what happened, back at the CDC, It's fine if you don't wanna talk about it, I just- I wanted to let you know- well, Tell you If you need anything, I'll be here for you." He was tumbling on his words a bit, trying to be careful about what he said, in case it upset me.

"Thanks, Glenn, I appreciate it." I smiled lightly, He gave me a small one back, I wrapped my arm around him as we were walking, trying to hug while walking was kind of difficult but I still did it anyways, Granting me a hug back we continued on.


	15. Chapter 15

After walking a bit we reached the rest of the group, They were pushing cars out of the way to get the RV through to turn back to a bypass and maybe go the other way

"Why aren't we all out there lookin'? Why are we movin' cars?" Carol asked, she was upset, shaken, she had every right to be, but sadly this had to be done. Dale explained to her why.

Shane making the remark that we eventually have to get a move on

"We aren't going anywhere till my daughter gets back." Carol said to Shane.

"That goes without saying." I abruptly said as I was walking past Shane to get to Carol "I led Carol away to comfort her and get her away from people, Suggesting she sits down and rests for now. "Rick and Daryl are on it, It's only a matter of time."

"Thank you, Evy." she walked off to go sit down and re-cooperate and gather her thoughts,

I wandered around a bit, Spotting Carl doing something I wasn't entirely sure he should be, He was poking around in a car alone, So I wandered to him to make sure everything was okay.

"Hey ,Carl, What are you doin'? He turned to me a little spooked, Insinuating I startled him.

"Oh I uhm, The dead guy, He's holding something, Can you help me get it out, Evy?"

Carl was probably one of the cutest kids you'd ever meet, so tiny and adorable, Just like Sophia, Just thinking about where she could be scared me, I really hope they find her.

Before Carl grabbed at the item, I slapped the dead guy in the chair a few times for fun and to see if he would wake up, But then again if he turned he would have done it already because I'm sure something would have gotten to him, and he would have been like that strapped to the chair, But to be safe I Took out my pocket knife and stabbed it's head, I stayed with Carl for now to let him get the object he wanted before he ran off to find his mom to show him, Not to offend Lori but she didn't seem to be paying much attention to Carl right now and it bothered me considering what had just happened with Sophia, He wasn't any where near Lori, Just like Sophia wasn't with Carol, It could have happened to him just the same.

After much struggling Carl pulled out the object, It looked like an arsenal of weapons, Sharp ones, But he took off with it before I could get a good look at them, But it didn't matter much, I had my own toys to play with anyways.

I walked following behind Carl, Running up to Shane and Lori, "Shane!, Look what I found!, It's an arsenal!" Carl spazzed to them, He was so excited about his findings

He wasn't really paying too much attention, He was too busy under the hood of some random car. "Yeah, that's Cool, Go give em' to Dale." Shane replied, He sounded kind of cold, and Didn't seem to care. Carl took one out and played with it, Lori telling him to be careful And he asked if he could keep one, She wouldn't let him so he asked Shane to make Lori let him keep one, Shane immediately decided to scold Carl as if he had done something wrong, Not to offend anyone, He wasn't really doing anything wrong in my opinion, In my eyes, It would have been better for him to learn how to use a weapon, Of any kind in case of some kind of emergency. I took Carl to go see Dale, he was upset, but not enough to cry though, Just felt confused and crushed, He didn't really understand what he did and why Shane blew him off the way he did, He didn't think asking was wrong, truth be told, It wasn't wrong. As I was walking with Carl I gave him a hug.

Carl Paused, looking disappointed, I stopped in my tracks and turned back towards him to ask him whats wrong. "They wouldn't let me keep one, And Shane snapped at me, Did- Did I do something wrong?"

I got down on my knees to his level and gave him another hug. "Naw. I think they are just stressed, You didn't do anything wrong kiddo. Come on, Lets go give these to Dale, Maybe I can try to convince your mom and dad to let you have one, But I'm not making any promises, I never make promises to anyone unless I know I can keep them." Carl Smiled and hugged me, thanking me, The answer I gave him was the best I could do, I didn't get involved in Lori, Shane and Rick's triangle, I rather not, I didn't want to make matters worse, I wasn't exactly sure what to tell Carl considering that reason, Best thing I could do was play stupid like I didn't know what was up with the three of them, To be honest I didn't really care what their issues were, I'd be okay with listening to them rant, I didn't mind that, but I didn't want to be dragged into it, It was already bad enough Carl was in the middle of it and he didn't even know what was going on.

Some hours had passed and it started to get a little dim outside, I was sitting on the railing on the highway taking a break from all the work when I noticed Rick and Daryl return, But no Sophia

Carol immediately went towards them and upset, "You didn't find her?" she said shakily,

"Her trail went cold, We'll pick it up again first light." Rick said, the man was tired, and I could see the guilt written all over his face. Carol sighed, ready to burst into tears again "You can't leave my daughter out there on her own, To spend the night alone in the woods," Daryl cutting in "No light won't do us any good, we'll jus' be trippin' over ourselves." "But you can't leave her there on her own, You didn't find anything?" Carol questioning again,. I couldn't help but feel guilty as well as Rick and Daryl, I could have easily gone after her too and probably would have gotten her back, But the time I jumped in, It was too late, She was already lost in the woods somewhere.

Carol sat down on the edge of the railing, Looked up at Rick with so many emotions I couldn't even begin to pick apart. "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?!" Carol was on the edge of breaking down again, Rick tried to explain what happened, But she didn't seem to be too much in the mood for hearing him or anyone else out.

I could see Rick's emotions changing within a few seconds from worry to overwhelming guilt.

Andrea and Lori stayed to comfort Carol, I walked off to follow after Rick.

"I'm sorry."

He turned around curious as to why I was apologizing to him.

"You tried your best, Rick, If you want, I'd be more than willing to help you and Daryl look for her tomorrow."

He stood there quiet, unsure of what to say so I pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm sure we'll find her, Rick. I'll spill any amount of blood sweat and tears to help."

"Thank you, Evy. It means a lot to me right now."

"You're welcome, It's the best I can do.".

I wandered around to find Daryl sitting on the ground against the RV.

"Hey, you." I sat down beside him, tugging on his pants. He just sat there throwing little pebbles that were near him, He didn't seem to be in a good mood, I wouldn't be if I had someone throwing guilt down my throat. I touched his arm lightly and leaned my head against his shoulder. "I'm sure you guys will find her Daryl, I've offered to help Rick look for her."I gave him a sympathetic smile and kissed him on the cheek, I stood up and as I was about to leave he grabbed my wrist, I turned down to look at him curiously as he dragged me back down towards him.

"Stay." I wasn't sure if I should be worried by that one word, Or turned on in some sort of way, Worried of course because I wasn't really sure what was running through his mind at the moment, I didn't want him to be upset. He pulled me into his arms and I laid there with my head on his lap, I looked up at him and touched the side of his face lightly. "I don't want to see you upset, I'm not saying you should change your emotions and put on a happy face for me this instant, I just wish I could fix this." He looked down at me curious by my response to his emotions. "What'ya mean?" He asked softly, placing his hand on my leg. I leaned up a bit, resting on my elbows as I explained to him what I was feeling."I just wish I ran after her sooner, If I did, we wouldn't be having any of these pro-" He set his hand on my mouth, cutting me off and I gave him a curious look, raising a brow at him.

"Hey, Ain't non'a this shit yer fault." He leaned down and pecked my forehead. We just sat there a big longer and had eventually just got up and crammed ourselves into the RV for now so we wouldn't be out in the open.

The next morning Rick laid the arsenal Carl found, out on the hood of the truck, "Everybody grab a weapon. Those who did not have guns or a weapon of their own took from the arsenal. Dale suggested he held onto all the guns from people who didn't have the proper training. No one really knew how to shoot properly aside Me, Rick, Shane And Daryl, Everyone else was okay, but they still needed proper training to ensure they could kill a walker in one shot, Moving or not.

Andrea walked up to the group, staring at the weapons laid out as if they were something deformed. "These aren't the kind of weapons we need, What about the guns?"

I sighed, I really just disliked Andrea with every fiber of my being, She really was stupid.

"Andrea, I thought you had gotten the idea by now? Especially back at camp when Glenn brought back our car, and the alarm was blaring?, Don't you remember Dale telling someone to shut it off? And then Shane noting how it'll attract Walkers? If I'm not mistaken you got pissed at Rick when you first met him that he "Rang the dinner bell"? You know the sounds will attract them, Why do you insist on having a gun? Especially if you can't shoot it properly. Say you were to shoot it, What happens then? We're not sure how long we're gonna be out here. You want another horde of them passing through?."

She scoffed and walked off, The rest of them looked at me, not wanting to say anything. "What? It's the truth! You guys all want another horde then be my guest, Let the blondy have her gun then, But right now, I rather we go and look for that little girl instead of baby sitting a grown woman. 'Nuff of this shit." I threw my crossbow over my back with a bit of an attitude and put the sword around my belt in it's sheath, I could tell, This new toy was going to be my favorite next to the crossbow, And I noticed Daryl staring at me at the corner of my eye as I was gearing up, He was trying to hold back a grin. After that happened, It hit me, It really was my attitude he liked, This appeased me, for once it wasn't just my looks, I was different from the others after all. Even though it was Dyed and fading, My hair was red turning ginger, With the black roots growing through, Slender, Short, Long legs, Hips that don't lie and I was packin' upstairs, I took care of myself best I could even during the apocalypse. Some say I was narcissistic, But it was better than throwing up my food to look "Perfect"

"The idea is ta' take the creek up 'bout five miles, turn 'round then come back down on tha' other side. Chances are she'll be by tha' creek, It's tha' only landmark." Daryl gave out his instructions, then soon Rick adding in his own, "Stay quiet, Stay sharp, Keep space between you, but always stay insight of each other."

We were about to leave but Andrea spoke up again, She just couldn't let it go, She wanted her gun, Instead she couldn't get her way with Rick, Shane now she ran to the one who took it in the first place, Dale, She begged and harassed him, then ended it in a tantrum taking it out on him.

When we left the CDC, It was Dale who brought her back, he talked her out of suicide. As a person who isn't in the situation. I took both parts and gave my opinion. Maybe it was wrong of Dale to take her decision to kill her self away from her. But he was right, It wasn't something Amy would have wanted. They were both in the wrong, And in the right. The way Andrea was pretty much cussing Dale off, It hurt him, And I couldn't help but put myself in his position. He was only trying to do good and help, She could have left it alone and instead she chose to bitch him out for it, Just because it is the end of the world, Doesn't mean it's the end of our feelings, We're still people, I understand that she was hurting, but she didn't need to take it out on anyone.

After she pretty much stabbed and twisted the knife she stuck in Dale with her words we all headed off, I walked next to Daryl to help him track Sophia along with the others, Dale and T-Dog were staying behind. My mood was changing from okay to bad to violent, But never expressed it. But Daryl could see it in my eyes. The whole apocalypse was starting to get to me, I went from a bubbly chick who could take care of herself from a vulnerable young woman who just lost her only friend at the time to a hardass, I was slowly turning into Daryl in some ways. He lightly set his hand on my shoulder and snapped me out of the violent anger brewing inside. I looked at him in the eyes, Straight faced, My eyes were slightly bloodshot from the lack of sleep, but all the emotions were still somewhat caught in my eyes. The anger, the pain, stress, depression. He knew, How could he not know. Just because he was a tracker and a hunter didn't mean he couldn't tell what people were feeling, And after everything, I guess I was something to him, I wasn't just a one night stand because of the apocalypse, I meant something to him and I could see it in his eyes as well.

We walked along the dirt path and came across a tent, Daryl snuck around the mini camp area of what seemed to be one person, There was nothing around it, He was about to go inside and Rick suggested Carol tried calling out to see if her daughter was in there, After a few times Daryl went on in and there was nothing but a dead man with his brains splattered everywhere inside the tent.

He came out making the statement that the man "opted out" as Jenner had put it.

Right as I was about to lean against a tree bells started to ring, Church bells. We all ran as fast as we could to the sound, tracking it down and finally we got to the church but there was no bell, or steeple, but we all ran towards it anyways, Maybe she was in there, Maybe she wasn't we weren't going to find out unless we walked in.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: My god, The story is getting just, I dunno. I have so many ideas for it, and its giving me a headache just. ARRGH IDEAS EVERYWHERE FBRHEUJIKRGFJNH **

**thanks FanFicGirl10 for all the reviews so far, and thanks to anyone who has read this and faved it. This is the most I've written ever. It means a lot to me. Reviews are always appreciated, any ideas are too. I'm open to hear the critique if there is any, but do keep in mind not to be rude please, This is my first story that has gone this far, I don't write very much, a lot of my talent lies in my art and singing is 2****nd****. With this I am trying my hardest and like I said, I am willing to listen to critique. Thanks!**

Daryl, Rick and I burst through the church doors and there were three walkers, I already had enough of this madness, Before the boys could get to them. I got them all. I ran up to the first which was closet, Swung the blade straight across, Slicing the head off cleanly, The next one was a Tall fucker, Two rows ahead of me from where I was, I stood up on the bench, charged and leaped off the bench at it, Resting my blade in it's rotting head, Pulling the blade down and away from the corpse only to swing around to the one behind me, The blade etched itself into the side of it's head where I then only dug it deeper into it's fragile skull, Twisting it for good measure, anger rising as it's lifeless body fell to the ground, Breathing heavy from the adrenaline rush, wishing there were more walkers to impale. I looked up at the ceiling, my head falling slightly to the side, noticing the famous crucified man, I scoffed and walked off outside for air, At that moment, I didn't care what the others saw, Or what they thought of me. I didn't care about the gasps I earned. I just wanted this all to end. Moments later the bells started ringing again, I found the power box to turn it on and off, It was on a timer, I destroyed the box so it wouldn't go off again, drawing in any attention, Letting them know it was on a timer. I walked off across the field slowing down into the small graveyard build outside the church, I always wondered what it would be like to be dead, Not that I'd ever kill myself, Too scared to be honest, I didn't want it to hurt, and before, I didn't have anything to live for or look forward to in this hell hole.

I heard foot steps creeping up behind me, not big ones. But small ones, I turned around slowly to find Carl at my side. "Hey ,Evy, Are you okay?"

I looked down at him with pain in my eyes. "I honestly can't lie to you kid, I am not okay. Not one bit."

He wasn't sure what to say so instead he gave me a tight hug, I gave one in return and he told me things will get better before he walked off. Not to sound offensive, but it was a lot coming from a little kid who didn't know much, It was rather refreshing, And it put a smile on my face, Even though I wasn't entirely sure things would get better.

I laid down on the grass under the sun, letting it beat down on me, I was laying down less than five minutes before a shadow over took me, I opened my eyes and Daryl was standing there above me.

"Ain't no time for a snooze sugar" he said pulling me up.

"Well shit, Then what is it time for?" I said. Daryl just kind of stood there confused and I felt bad. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound snappy or anything."

"S'all good, By tha' way, What ya did back there was pretty-" He paused trying to find the right words, I finished the sentence instead "Sick? Hot? Awesome? Uhm...Fearless?" He chuckled, "not sure what it was, but I liked it" he answered. I felt my face heat up a bit. "Well. It was fun, I don't even know what I did, I guess-" My eyes trailed off in another direction."-I lost it, Between my own issues, Andrea and everything else, I dunno. It's fucked up. I feel held back. And I know it's an odd feeling but I would just love to kill every walker that comes my way." He stood there staring with his normal squint and straight face when he wasn't sure what to say. "What are we doing next?, Any ideas?" I asked him

He scratched the back of his head thinking "Not sure, I'd say we head back ta' tha' RV"

After situating ourselves, Rick, Shane and Daryl all went to talk out what they were going to do next, I sat there and waited until Rick had walked up to me, Asking me to join in, He patted me on the back thoroughly impressed by what I did In the church, I guess I earned respect and a place now, Not that I didn't have one before, I guess I just set it in stone with my act of violence against the walkers, Maybe my opinions would be accounted for and taken into consideration and maybe the ideas would get used too.

"Shane And I are going to continue searching the area, Carl is coming with us, The rest of the group will do as planned, taking the creek and going back down on the other side heading back to the RV, Which way are you takin'?" Rick was unsure of where and what I was going to do next, so he helped me and gave me an option.

"I think I'll go with you Rick, I'm not that bad of a tracker anymore, Thanks to Daryl, And you need the extra pair of eyes and ears, and I wouldn't mind spendin' some time with Carl."

"Okay, Then it's settled, Daryl you take the rest back to the RV, Evy, You're comin with us, Gear up." Rick stated and walked off with Shane to gear up and get Carl.

Daryl turned towards me, "I convinced Rick ta' let ya' join in and stuff, I thought it'd be nicer if you were apart of all tha' big stuff that goes on, You've damn well earned it, And If Shane tries shit again, His ass will be stomped."

I giggled a bit at the last part of his statement, Would be honestly funny if Shane got his ass stomped again. "Thank you, Daryl, Means a lot to me, Not sure what to do most of the time, unless I'm told to do something of course, and this will probably keep me from slapping Andrea." Daryl couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, Even though we were all in a group, people still had their differences. I kissed him on the cheek and we parted ways for now to look for Sophia.

"Hey, Evy, you're coming with us?"Carl ran up to me with such excitement, It put a smile on my face

"Yep, Going to help your dad look for Sophia."

"What you did in the church, it was pretty awesome."

"Well thanks, Kid"

"Where did you learn to do that? Can you teach me?"

"oh my my, so many questions, Well. I kind of self taught myself, I was secluded growing up, I didn't want to be near people as much until I hit my late teens, So within the time I was secluded, I watched a lot of movies, to be honest, What I did back there, I wasn't entirely sure was going to work, but I'd love to do it again and as for teaching you, bud. I'm not sure you're mom or dad would be okay with that."

After Rick returned from grabbing his gear along with Shane, we all headed off.

After a bit of walking and searching, we found nothing but dirt, dirt and more dirt, No footsteps, not any of her little hair items, or her doll, no little hideouts, nothing.

We stood around and we started to hear rustling, Assuming it's a walker I drew my blade stepping closer to the sound, But it wasn't, For once, It was a deer, not a snarly, rotting walking corpse,

A big, beautiful deer, Carl was stepping up close to it, his hand reached out, in the hopes of petting the creature, He was only a few feet away from it now, Then a shot rang out in the air, The deer fell, and So did Carl.

**11/28/12-A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short compared to the other ones I've done, Tired at the moment and I just thought it should end here**


	17. Chapter 17

The shot rang through the air, The deer fell and so did Carl, Eyes wide with a dropping jaw I ran towards Carl along with Rick, Shane walked around us to see if he could find the shooter, Rick Picked Carl up, and then a man emerged from beyond the trees, He was in shock as well as the rest of us, He didn't see Carl and how it was only an accident, I believe him, Unfortunately Shane did everything but believe him, The man named Otis told us where he came from and where to get help, It was on a Farm not to far from where we were at, Told us to ask for a man named Hershel.

I ran with Rick fast as I could, and Shane with Otis. We were so close to the farm, yet so far, But it was right there.

"Rick!, I'll go up ahead and tell them what happened.

"

I ran faster than before, Running was something I was good at, I ran fast and hard across the field, Practically out of breath, As I got closer I heard a woman calling for her father. I was tired but I kept pushing. I approached the house nearly crashing on their steps. I told them the news and they welcomed us in. By the time Rick got to the house he was covered in Carl's blood, Shane and Otis were still far behind.

I waited outside the door in case I was needed, but I didn't want to be in the room and in the way, Rick went outside to meet Shane. The three of us gathered around and sat inside their living room waiting around. Hershel's daughter Maggie ran into the room, It was about Carl, They went back by him, There wasn't enough room for me to enter, not without getting in the way and he was still losing blood, Heartbeat was faint, Rick needed to stay with him for many reasons, One of them being Carl needed his blood.

Carl's screams and cries echoed throughout the house, I at that point was scared myself along with Rick, I wanted to sob myself into a corner but it wasn't the time for that, What if they had needed me?

The screams and cries had stopped, My heart stopped _"shit..." I_ crept near the door only to hear he had just passed out, "_oh thank fuck..." _ I thought to myself, My feet dragging across the floor to the chair. A young man had came out of the room along with a girl, "Uhm, Hi, I'm Beth and this is Jimmy. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Hello There, Yes please, a glass of water will do just fine, thanks."

"Are they your family? The sheriff and the boy?"

"Yes And no, I'm just part of their group, But, We're like a family."

Jimmy patted me on the shoulder after Beth handed me the water, I took a drink and walked into the room by Carl. Seeing him like that upset me, And made me think about my own family, Where could they be? Were they alive? The youngest couldn't even take care of himself, Mentally behind and severe ADHD, Can't and won't even listen to a single soul properly. And I worried just the same about Krista.

I sat by Carl's bedside, I wanted to cry. I leaned my head down on the bed next to him, Petting his head, Hershel was on the opposite side checking his blood pressure, Rick was at the foot of the bed with his head down against it and Shane was sitting with him. Me and Rick changed places so the woman named Patricia could get the needles and things ready for rick, to hook him up to tubes so he could give Carl his blood.

Lori didn't know what was going on, Rick wanted to go back but he needed to stay with Carl. The loss of blood and lack of food made him woozy And Shane needed to stay with Rick to watch over him since they'd be taking his blood. He would have to make sure Rick keeps his strength up with food and drinks. Maggie offered to go. "No, I'll go, Not to offend anyone, They won't trust a random woman running up to them telling them whats wrong, for all we know they could think you did it, We're missing a child right now, lookin' for her, Everyone is gonna be on edge, I'll go back."

Maggie nodded understanding, told me I could take her horse.

I have never rode a horse, But I was good with animals when I was near them so maybe It wouldn't be so bad, Maggie helped me saddle up the horse quickly and get on, After getting adjusted I Rode off, Commanding It to go faster, It felt weird being this high up and in speed, felt like I was flying.

As I approached the group Andrea was about to be eaten by a walker, It was almost tempting to leave her, But I figure we all had enough heartbreak at the moment and some about to get worse, I drew my blade out and cut its head right off.

"Lori!, Rick and Carl, They need you, Now!, Daryl Take the rest to the RV and let the others know whats goin' on, The suns goin' down, get a move on!" I helped Lori climb up on and I rode the horse fast through the woods back to the farm. "Evy, What is going on?!" I couldn't lie to the woman "It's Carl, Long story short, a hunter was trackin' some food and the bullet went clean through and into Carl."

We arrived at the house Lori stumbled off the horse a little bit and ran onto the porch meeting up with Rick. I followed back in, "Thank you" Rick said quietly. As I walked in, Shane and Otis were gone, They went on a medical supply run from what they told me.

They walked into Carl's Room, He was still laying there, Lori was laying next to him, Pleading to him he was going to be alright, She had Rick's hand in hers, I was standing by the door until she motioned for me to come in, I sat on the opposite side of the bed, holding his little hand in mine, I think at this point, I wanted nothing more than him to be awake and for this to be all over.

"Thank you, Evy, Rick told me you were nothing but help from the start of it, I can't repay you enough I-" I glanced at her then back to Carl. "No need to thank me, It's what I do. I help people. And you guys are family to me now. I'll do whatever It takes to help keep us all alive, and not to be a total downer, He still needs help." She reached over and lightly pat my shoulder.

"I'll be back, I'm going to go find the others and see if it's okay with Hershel that we bring them here, They might be able to help T-Dog."

"Alright, Try not to Take too long Evy."

"Hey uhm, I just thought you guys should know,-" They looked at me curiously "-My real name, It's Evelyn, My friends used to call me Evy, and it just stuck with me, And I would like to thank you, for letting me stay around and caring for me," and with that I walked off.

"Hershel?, I know you don't have much time on your hands but I need to ask you something important" He looked down at me nodding me to continue "I was wondering if I could bring the rest of our people here-" "On one condition, your people follow the rules,"

"Thank you, we have a man with an injured arm back with us, He was cut looking around for safety, and We're looking for a lost girl. She might be in the area so if we could just stay until we find her, We would be eternally grateful."

He nodded understanding and with a yes "And I'll have Patricia see to the man once you get them here."

I said thank you again and walked off, I saddled up again on the horse Maggie let me use and rode all the way back to camp, By the time I arrived they were all surprised to see me back again and were curious. Andrea immediately drew her eyes towards me "What?, Jealous?, By the way, Don't expect me to keep savin' your ass." She scoffed and turned away. Daryl was looking up at me grinning,I looked down at him from atop the horse, I winked and said "Hey sugar," He chuckled lightly. I was enjoying myself at the moment. I literally was on a high horse. "Alright, I talked to the farm owner, Hershel, the one that is taking care of Carl, I managed to make a negotiation with him, We'll be able to stay till we find the Sophia and Carl is fully healed., as long as we follow his rules, so we'll have to set up our camp a bit away from the house but still close enough." I turned towards dale "You got that RV runnin' now?" "Like a dream, Even got some spares from all of these abandoned ones" he replied

"we're settin' up an area for Sophia, and we'll keep checkin' everyday, 'Case she comes back."Carol noted

"Alright, Well just don't take too long, once ya'll are done packin' up, we gotta get goin' suns almost out."

"Will they be able to help T-Dog? He has a really serious infection now, and we haven't been able to find anything but Ibuprofen."

"Yep, I was just about to say they'll be able to help him."

As T-Dog was brought up I noticed Daryl rustling around in the bags of his Bike, Noticing that same Red object he hid from me earlier, "_What in the hell was that?"_ I thought. It is going to drive me mad till I see it. After digging around he pulled out a bag of what seemed to look like medication

"Why'd ya wait till now ta' say anythin'? I got my brother's stash here." he rustled around in the bag looking for the right thing. "Crystal...X? Don't need that. Got some kick ass pain killers here though." he said as he tossed Glenn the bottle. "Doxycycline, Not the generic stuff either, It's first class, Merle got the clap on occasion."

"I dunno if we could make it back by complete nightfall" Andrea spoke out

"For once, blondy I think you might be right, I'll have to get this horse back to them and just come back tomorrow I suppose then. But still just make sure shit is still packed up and ready to leave, I'll be back once the sun is up."

They all went to make sure everything was packed up and ready by morning, Daryl turned towards me. He knew something was up. "You alrigh'?"

I couldn't lie to him, he'd know, not that I wanted to lie to him anyways. "I miss my family, seeing Carl today the way he was, it just made me wonder about mine, if they are okay, or even alive for that matter, And Same goes for Krista as well." He couldn't reach up to me properly so he stood up on the hood of the car he was standing near and pulled me into a kiss. "I'm sure you'll find em' again'."

It was one of the things I liked most about Daryl, The fact he had hope. Even though the world was shit right now, He still had what everyone was losing, He was like a little kid in some senses, Just so innocent, and strong, yet a little bit broken., I knew he'd never admit it, regardless if I brought up or anyone else and he denied it, I knew he missed his brother, That was the one thing we all had in common, We all had lost someone, Not saying Carl was lost, but them as a family. They had lost friends and family of their own. People close to them, just like all this shit made us have to keep running for our lives, sleeping with one eye open. This "Natural" disaster made us all orphans of the world.

"How's tha' brat?" Daryl asked

"He's.. in and out of conciousness, Rick has been giving him blood, so Rick is very weak right now. Shane and the man who accidentally shot Carl went out on a medical supply run to save him, The man was hunting a deer and the bullet went straight through him and into Carl, The deer slowed the bullet down, but it didn't go in clean, It broke into six fragments, Hershel only has one out so far."

I looked down fidgeting with my hands as the silence fell, He pulled me in for another kiss. "Ya' better get goin' before night falls and ya' can't see shit, Don' need ya getting' yerself killed."

"Yes sir." I replied grinning

"Sir?"he chuckled "I could get used ta' that."

"Maybe we could get away for a while after get there, Play a game." I couldn't hide the grin anymore

"A game?" he questioned, Raising a brow

"Yeah. I'll be the cowgirl and you can be my cowboy, Save a horse ride a cowboy."I grinned and winked at him. He grinned seeming to like the idea. "Yer crazy" he stated.

"I know."

"I know ya' do, thas why I like ya'"

He kissed me once more before I rode off once more.


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm sorry for the Delay!, I had to watch the last episode of TWD and I've been busy cleaning and stuff.**

I was riding off and before I got too far Glenn and T-Dog caught up with me,

"What are you two doin'?"

"Dale said we should tag along, So we can get T-Dog some help."

"Oh, Alright, I figured you'd follow along, wasn't sure about the rest of em', Let's go."

We rode off and by the time we got there it was dark.

"Just walk up, There is Maggie there on the porch, She said to me before I had left she would keep checking for me, Just go on up and let them fix up T-Dog."

I put the horse away in it's stable before getting into the house, When I got in I had met up with them in Carl's room. The wound looked worse, was a tad bit swollen and you could begin to see the veins, his skin was bruised and he seemed to be starting a mild infection.

I walked out and sat down in their living room, there wasn't enough room for all of us to be in there, so I just laid down for now to get some rest. It didn't seem like I got much rest, everyone was stirring around so much, I sat up and just observed everything, then I heard something from outside, I heard Lori and Rick talking.

"Maybe this world isn't for children anymore."

"Yeah well, we have a child, Carl is here in this world now I- Lori cut him off "Maybe he shouldn't be, Maybe this is how it's supposed to be.

"You can't mean that" they turned and looked at each other. "Okay, Alright, I can understand that thought crossing your mind-. "It didn't cross my mind , Rick, I can't stop thinkin' it."

I was shocked enough by the day this just topped the cake. I loved them like family but, this just wasn't right. I turned over and stopped listening in on them. But I could still hear them. I got up and walked away into his room to pretend I didn't hear their conversation. Besides, Wasn't any of my business anyways. I crept into his room slowly, Every time I walked into that room, I wanted to cry my eyes out. I sat at his bedside and held his hand _"come on little guy, you can do it, you can fight this..."_

As I was holding his hand he started to wake up a little and started coughing, I called for Lori and Rick and they came flying in right to be right at his side.

"W-where a-are we? W-what happened?"choking out, he looked down at his bandages

"I-it hurts."

"Oh I know baby, I know," Lori began to coddle him, petting his head.

"You should'a seen it. The D-deer, It was so pretty mom, And so close, I-I've never been-" Carl sooned stopped talking, and all of us stopped as well, I felt my heart stop, "W-Whats happening?" I asked turning to Hershel, Just as he was about to answer Carl started to violently Spaz, He was having a Seizure. "Don't touch him!, Let him be, He'll have to ride this out, If you try to restrain him he could get hurt." After Carl had calmed down and stopped Hershel checked his pupils, He wasn't getting enough blood to his brain and his pressure was dropping., Rick had offered more blood to Carl, but Hershel denied him saying he could pass out, go into a coma, or cardiac arrest. Rick didn't care he pressed on it until Hershel gave in.

I stepped back so he could work and do what he needed, I sat down in the chair in the corner and decided to sleep in there. It wasn't much sleep, just a cat nap it seemed, I woke up from the rustling around and talking, Hershel was checking Carl's pressure again, He was losing blood faster than it could be replaced, I looked over at Rick, All the life and color had drained from his face, he was a pasty white now. Shane and Otis weren't back yet so they decided to just go through with the operation without the supplies, it was a risk, But it was going to be taken, Carl was running out of time.

We all scrambled around to get Carl off the bed and onto the table they had prepared, We each grabbed a corner of the sheet and lifted him up with much struggle, but we got him on the table

"Rick, Lori, you may want to step out, Evy, You as well."

right as we were about to leave the room we heard a car pull up, Hershel told Patricia to stay with Carl, We all ran down stairs, Shane was back, But no Otis. Maggie began to overflow with tears.

"We say nothing to Patricia, Not till after. I need her." Hershel stated as he was grabbing the bags of supplies heading back to the house.

I may not have known Shane that long but something didn't seem right when he came back. I shook off the thoughts and ran after Hershel to see if he needed any help, And he did not, I didn't pressure him into anything. I just let him be to get his work done. I went downstairs with Maggie and Glenn, They were talking, and Maggie was crying, I stood there, absent mindedly twirling my hair. " I uhm, I am no good at this-" Struggling to find the right words I eventually got it out "-Im sorry about Otis." I walked over to her and hugged her.

"I've known Otis since I was a kid, He's been runnin' this farm since before my mother died."

I sat there with her holding her in a comforting embrace, Glenn walked up to the fridge, full of pictures. "Who else?" Turning to her "Who'd you lose?". She looked up at him, still crying, and confused by what exactly he was wanting. "You told me I had to make it okay some how, It's what you been tryna do, right?" She walked upto the fridge, pointing at her stepmother and stepbrother,

Time had passed and eventually Hershel had shown up again"Where's Rick?" he asked as he was coming down the stairs.

"He's outside with Lori, On the porch." We all followed out there, I guess it was time to hear about Carl. My heart was racing, I felt like the Answer that was about to come from Hershel was going to take ages. "He seems to have stablized." He said and everyone sighed in relief. "I don't have words" Lori said.

"Wish I did" Hershel said, looking around at all of us "Now how do I tell Patricia about Otis?"

Rick looked at Lori and I and asked us to go to Carl, He and Hershel would go to Patricia.

I practically sprinted up and towards the door and up the stairs to Carl with Lori not far behind, We sat there chatting, thankful for all Hershel has done, and now awaiting for Carl to awaken, Not too long after we got into Carl's room, We heard the sobs of a woman downstairs. I sat there quietly and Lori noticed the change of emotion on my face from thankful to somber to vengeful.

"Is something the matter sweetie?"

I looked up at Lori, I wasn't sure what to say, Do I lie? Do I express myself calmly? Or just go hit Shane like I want to?.

"Something isn't right about this whole thing. Now I don't wanna point fingers, but when I've had enough experience to know when something's wrong or when most importantly, Someone's lying. I don't think it's..I dunno, Never mind."

Lori looked at me curiously, I think she understood what I was getting at. "Are- Are you saying Shane did something to Otis?" I looked her dead in the eye with all of my emotions pointing to yes. She didn't say anything, instead she looked like she was contemplating, and taking my assumption into consideration. Our conversation was cut short when Shane walked in to see Carl, I just left, I didn't want to be anywhere near him, I instead went downstairs with the others to sit with Patricia then eventually after a while we started to notice the sun had begun to rise. I had said I'd set out first light, back to the RV with everyone else, I got up that morning and started to get ready, I packed my blade and my bow, Once again Maggie helped me set up the horse and I again rode off.

When I reached the highway I got off the horse and started walking around to get everyone up and ready to start leaving.

"Hey you." Daryl said as he approached me, Yawning and stretching. "_Those muscles..." _ I though to myself, inwardly grinning whilst on the out I was straight faced, He snapped my out of my daze "What ya' starin' at?"

"What? What?, Oh, Nothing I just.." Trying to clear my throat and get into a steady calm conversation failed me because I could feel my face heat up and I knew he could see it, trying to distract him from asking me any further questions I asked him things instead. "So is everyone ready?"

"Yeah, seems like it."

"Any luck with Sophia?" he looked off in another direction squinting at the harsh sunlight, The look on his face already said no before he could even reply, I touched his arm lightly giving him a sympathetic smile, When Daryl was upset, He wasn't a man of many words, Only time he would express any negative feelings is when he was angry, Which he'd normally do by shouting or being so pissed off you could see it all over his face, like back at the CDC or any of the previous situations with Merle being missing. Everyone approached me asking how I was, which was strange they never did that before. "So is everyone ready to go now? The second we get there, feel free to visit Carl but then you guys have to unpack and set up camp. There are some trees off in the distance with some shade, I was thinkin' that would be a good spot for us to set up" Everyone nodded agreeing enjoying the idea of the shade away from the harsh sun.

"Still got the horse with you?" Dale pointed out, seeming somewhat amused.

"Yeah, Which by the way they will let us use If we need to, Maggie said she always uses them for going on runs, Like what Glenn does."

I walked up to the creature petting it's nose to make it aware I was going to climb on it. And as always I was Struggling with it, Daryl walked over quietly laughing at me as he helped me up on it, Slapped my ass as well _"why …..why does he do this.. why..." _ I thought "What is with you and slapping my ass?" I asked amused, looking down at him from atop the horse.

" 'Cuz, Yer My woman, I do what I want." He said jokingly as he put his hands on his hips,

"Shut up" I said grinning.

"Make me, Short stuff"

_What an evil. Evil. Man. "_Pff, Maybe I will."

He scoffed, "Yer bluffin' " he said as he was walking off to get on his bike _"God damn he looked so good getting on that bike...It's like he does this shit to tease me in the worst ways." _ He caught my gaze and started to grin, he knew he caught me staring at him again like I did when we were back at the quarry. I cleared my throat, trying not to melt from the heat building up in me, _"God damn him..."_


End file.
